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ANIMAL 

CASTRATION 

BY 

A. LIAUTARD, M.D., V.M. 

Professor of Anatomy, Operative Surgery and Sanitary Medicint 
to the American Veterinary College, New York; National 
Corresponding Member of the Societe Central e de Medecine 
Veterinaire, Paris; Honorary Fellow of the Royal College 
of Veterinary Surgeons, England; Member of the Societe 
Veterinaire d' Alsace-Lorraine ; Member of the Societe Vete- 
rinaire Pratique, Paris; Member of the American Veterinary 
Medical Association; Foreign Corresponding Member of the 
Academy of Belgium, etc., etc. 

WITH FIFTY-THREE PLATES EMBODIED IN THE TEXT 



NINTH EDITION, BE VISED AND ENLARGED 




NEW YORK 

WILLIAM R. JENKINS 
851-853 Sixth Avenue 

LONDON 

BALLIERE, TINDALL & COX 
' 1900 



THE LIBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
One Copy Received 

MAY. 28 1902 

COPVRKSHT ENTRY 

fcfo\s. I if- \C\ Is* 

CLASS ^ XXc. No. 

COPY 8. 



Copyright, 1884, l?02, by William R. Jenkins 



PRINTED BY THE 
OF WILLIAM R. JENKINS 
NE"W YORK 






TO 

HENBY BOULEY, 

Member of the Institute of Paris, 

This little practical work has been respectfully dedicated 
in testimony of the continued esteem and respectful remem- 
brance of one who was fortunate in being numbered among 
his "ormer students, by 

The Author. 



INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW EDITION. 

Since the first publication of my little work on Castration, 
many editions have been offered to the public and have 
received such kind reception that I have thought to revise 
and improve it in many points. In the new (ninth) edition, 
besides several minor additions, we have rewritten a few 
entirely and taken advantage of the progress that has been 
made in the castration of criptorchids and that of the small 
animals. 

We have also freely quoted from the writings of Professor 
Cadiot in changing the entire chapter on abdominal and 
inguinal cryptorchidy, and called upon the experience of some 
of our American confreres, Dr. T. B. Rodgers, of Wood- 
bury, N. J., and Prof. E. Ryder, of New York, from whom 
we have obtained the articles on spaying of swine and 
caponizing roosters. We take this opportunity to thank them 
for their kindness in writing those chapters. 

A few new illustrations have also been inserted showing 
the various steps of castration in ridglings. 

To our publishers, the old house of W. R. Jenkins, we 
tender our thanks for their efforts in allowing us to make the 
work worthy of the reception our friends may give to our 
new edition. 

The Author. 

March, 1902. 



INTRODUCTION TO THE FIRST EDITION. 

In presenting this concise treatise upon castration of the 
domestic animals, it is not intended to offer new modes of 
operation, but merely to collect together the various methods 
in use and leave the reader to appreciate them at their value. 
It is a work which, it is believed, has not yet been done in 
English veterinary literature, and on this account it is hoped 
will prove of interest and use to those engaged in that 
specialty of veterinary surgeiy. 

In gathering the material, advantage has been taken of 
several of the most recent works of French and German 
writers on the subject, and plates have been obtained from 
the original and excellent wood cuts of Zundel, and Peuch, 
and Toussaint. 

In presenting this volume to the indulgence of veterinari- 
ans, it is with pleasure that the author acknowledges and 
offers his sincere thanks to Dr. Holt for the great assistance 
tie has kindly given in revising the manuscript. 

The Author. 



-~ Y 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Abdominal Cryptorchidy 77 

Abscesses in Scrotal region Ill 

" " Pelvic cavity 147 

Advantages of Castration in cows 130 

Age at which Castration ought to be performed 8 

Amaurosis 125 

Anatomy of the male parts 15 

" female" 131 

Bistournage 58 

Bistoury Cache 137 

Castration of Cryptorchids u 58 

Cats 68 

Dogs 154 

Fashion and convenience 5 

" Females 128 

-" Fowls 161 

Necessity 4 

" Small ruminants 148 

" Swine 150 

Champignon 112 

Superficial 114 

" Deep....r 115 

Charlier's Instruments 135, 136 

Method.. 135 

" Scissors". 138 

Clamps ....41, 42 

" House 35 

Classification of Methods 19 

Colics 107 

Combined Forceps of M. Beaufils 29 

ix 



X CONTENTS. 

Comparative View of the Various Modes 125 

Complications and their Treatment 106, 146 

Conditions favorable to the operation 130 

Constipation 148 

Covered Operation 44 

Crushing of the Testicular Ccrcl 57 

Curved Clamps 11* 

Dangers of Operation Standing Up 13 

Definition of Castration 3 

Dogs I 54 

Double Subcutaneous Torsion 58 

Ecraseurs 32 

Effects of Castration 5, 100, 130 

Emphysema, subcutaneous 148 

Excision 20 

Farmer Miles 73 

Firing 35 

' ' Forceps for Castration by 36 

Fistula of the Scrotum 121 

Forceps for Holding the Ovary 138 

Fowls 161 

Free Torsion 24 

Gangrene • H° 

Hemorrhage 108, 147 

Hernia of Castration 122 

History of Castration 4 

Hygiene and subsequent attention 104 

Incision in the Vagina 139 

Inguinal Cryptorchidy 97 

Hernia 122 

Ligature .. = .. 51 

1 l Carrier. 119 

j ' of the Cord and its envelopes 53 



CONTENTS. XI 

Ligature of the Cord only 54 

" of the Efferent Canal 55 

" of the Spermatic Artery 55 

Limited Torsion , 26 

Linear Crushing 31 

Method by the Clamps 39 

" " Ecraseur 34 

" Flanks 132 

Methods, Classification of 19 

Modes of Cicatrization 102 

Modus operandi of Bistournage 59 

« " " " 1st Step 60, 61 

« " « " 2d " 62, 63 

" " " »« 3d " 64, 65 

« « " " 4th " 66 

" " " Castration of Females 132 

" " " Covered Operation 44 

" " " Limited Torsion 28 

" " " Uncovered Operation 47 

Peritonitis 123, 147 

Preparation of the Patient 9 

Purposes of Castration 4 

Removal of the Ovaries 140 

Restraint, Modes of 10 

Season most favorable 8 

Scraping 21 

Second Method of Castration 39 

Securing the Animal Down 10 

Softening of the Bags 60, 61 

Standing Up Operation 10 

" " Dangers of 13 

Subcutaneous Twisting 58 

Swelling of the Scrotal Region 109 

Swine 150 

Tearing and Torsion. 22 



Xll CONTENTS. 

Tearing of the Clamps 107 

Tetanus , 124 

Thimble for Castration 138 

Third Method of Castration 56 

Torsion 23 

above the Epididimis 24 

below the Epididimis 25 

Forceps 26, 27 

Free 24 

Limited.. 26 

Uncovered Operation 47 

Vaginal Speculum 136 137 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 



CHAPTEE I. 

DEFINITION — ITSVAEIOUS PURPOSES — AN OLD OPERATION 
— ITS HISTORY — CASTRATION OF NECESSITY — CASTRA- 
TION OF FASHION AND CONVENIENCE — ITS EFFECTS — 
UPON THE GENERAL ORGANISM — UPON SOME SPECIAL 
FUNCTION — UPON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ANIMAL 
— AGE AT WHICH IT OUGHT TO BE PERFORMED — SEA- 
SON MOST FAVORABLE — PREPARATION OF THE PATIENT 
— MODES OF RESTRAINT — CASTING — STANDING UP — 
ANATOMY OF THE PARTS. 

Of all the operations pertaining to the domain of 
Veterinary Surgery, without doubt the practitioner 
is most frequently called upon to perform — more es- 
pecially in breeding districts — that of castration, the 
destruction or removal of the essential organs of gen- 
eration in our domesticated animals. It is, however, 



4 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

not nearly so often resorted to for purely surgical 
reasons as for purposes closely related to questions 
of agricultural and industrial economy, by reason of 
its effect upon the individuals of the various species 
of animals subjected to it, in order to improve their 
value and increase their usefulness to mankind. And 
that this is its practical effect is no modern discovery. 
As far back in antiquity as seven centuries preceding 
the Christian era, it was known and practised upon 
various animals. Of this we may find ample histori- 
cal proof in the writings of Koman, Greek, and Ori- 
ental authors, where specific mention appears of the 
various methods employed, including the processes 
of excision, of crushing and of tearing. Even the 
castration of females was known to our less remote 
ancestors, the Danes having in the sixteenth century 
performed it on sheep, swine, cows, and even mares. 
The spaying of cows, however, seems to have been 
forgotten about the beginning of the present century, 
and it was not until the year 1831 that Thomas Winn, 
of Natchez (Louisiana"), and afterwards Levrat (of 
Lausanne), brought it to the attention of veterinari- 
ans, as a means for the improvement of the milky 
secretion in cows. 

The operation may be considered under two distinct 
heads. Under the first it is to be considered as one 
of necessity, as when performed with a therapeutic 
object in view ; as, for example, when it constitutes 
one of the last steps involved in the surgical treat- 
ment of strangulated hernia, or of diseased conditions 
of the testicles or ovaries, such as orchitis, epididy- 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 5 

mitis, sarcoceie, hydrocele, cyst, etc. In the other 
case it is resorted to for reasons of mere fashion and 
convenience, and has for its object the production of 
such a modification of the general organism as shall 
increase the adaptedness of the animals subjected to 
it to the uses to which they are applied ; when, of 
course, the economic becomes the paramount and ex- 
clusive reason for thus interfering with the obvious 
creative purpose. It is the operation as performed 
under this general heading that we shall now prin- 
cipally consider. 

In relation to this latter object it must be borne in 
mind that the operation is followed by certain pecu- 
liar effects, which may either manifest themselves 
upon the entire organism, or upon some special func- 
tions only. In the first instance it is quite evident 
that the primary and most obvious effect of the mu- 
tilation is to be discovered in the character and dis- 
position of the animal, which at once becomes in a 
double sense an " altered " creature, docile and sub- 
missive, and entirely willing to become the obedient 
and useful servant of his human master. But it is 
not alone that we find the vicious stallion, the un- 
controllable bull, the kicking jackass, the dangerous 
boar, and even the hysteric mare and cow transformed 
into the useful gelding, the quiet ox, the patient don- 
key, and the " fatherly " barrow, the quiet working 
mare and the productive cow, as the result of the 
change which the character — the nervous system, in 
fact — has undergone. Besides this, other marked 
changes are to be observed of a more distinctly 



6 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

physical character, such as a modification of the 
entire organism, manifested in the external symme- 
try, and the expressive physiognomy of the creature^ 
when deprived of its virility. 

The animal becomes more quiet, and its general 
form is modified. If altered at an early age, the 
skeleton will be arrested in its growth, and the mass 
of muscles attached to it will participate in the de- 
fective development ; the head will become elongated, 
the legs will continue to be lighter, and the body 
will show a corresponding lack of development. In 
other words, the male animal will tend to assume the 
characters of the female, in form and feature, the 
gelding, indeed, resembling the mare, not only in the 
ensemble of his appearance, but in his voice, which 
loses the resonance of the stallion's, and his physi- 
ognomy, which becomes milder and less expressive ; 
while his neck is lighter and his mane more scanty, 
with the hairs which compose it more fine and silky. 

A like tendency exists in other male animals to 
acquire a resemblance to the female as an effect of 
the operation of castration. The altered bull has a 
weak and feminine voice ; his head is narrower and 
elongated ; his horns become lengthened and more 
curved ; he has exchanged his wild and threatening 
aspect for a mild and gentle visage ; his neck also is 
lighter and his chest narrower ; his bony structure 
is less massive ; and he has, besides all the rest, ac- 
quired a quality of essential importance to mankind 
in a dietetic view, that of accumulating fat. This 
last phenomenon shows us that besides the other 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 7 

changes re ferred to, there is an important modifica- 
tion of the nutritive forces of the animal, or at least 
a change in the direction of their action. 

When thus deprived of his virile functions the 
animal ceases, in effect, to exist as one of a species, 
but maintains an essentially individual life, in which 
the assimilable nutriment which he absorbs, instead 
of being in part appropriated to the office of repro- 
duction of his kind, is all devoted to his own individ- 
ual conservation. In animals not used for draught 
purposes, or in other labor, when the food received 
is nearly always in excess of the amount required for 
the support of the organism, the result follows that 
the surplus of nutritive substances (found sometimes 
in great abundance) becomes stored in the connective 
tissue and intermuscular structure, and that in this 
way the flesh assumes superior and more nutritious 
qualities than that of the unaltered animal, while, at 
the same time, it loses the strong and peculiar odor 
frequently communicated to it by the presence of the 
testicular apparatus and secretion in the entire 
animal. 

This property of modification of function is proba- 
bly still better illustrated in the effect of the opera- 
tion upon cows, where we shall find not only the power 
of accumulation of fat increased by castration, but, 
above all, the milky secretion improved both in qual- 
ity and quantity, and also in the duration of the flow. 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 



AGE. 



The question, " at what age can an entire animal 
be altered?" admits of a simple answer, to wit, "as 
soon as the testicles can be easily reached — as soon 
as they appear outside of the abdominal cavity, and 
are found in the inguinal canal." But although it 
can be performed at that epoch, or deferred to any 
period of after life, it must be remembered that it is 
easier and less dangerous in young than in older ani- 
mals, and that with the former it is a simple opera- 
tion, producing, ordinarily, no noticeable alteration 
in the other functions, and but rarely followed by 
accidents. 

A period between eighteen months and two years 
is generally preferred for horses, though, according 
to some authors, even a much earlier date may be 
chosen, some English veterinarians being accustomed 
to operate at as early a date as ten days from birth. 
It is immaterial, however, at what precise time the 
operation may be performed, since it is a conceded 
point that the earlier it is done the better. 

SEASON. 

TVhen it is possible to choose the season most fa- 
vorable for the operation, and for securing the best 
chances of recovery, the spring, or the early stages 
of the fall, are those to which the operator should 
give the preference, provided the atmospheric tem- 
perature is moderate and not susceptible to sudden 
variations. It is to be remembered that at some 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. ^ 

periods of the year, without any known or apparent 
cause, a tendency appears in wounds to take on gan- 
grenous or septicemic complications which are not 
so generally observed in the mild weather of spring 
and early fall. Another essential condition which 
surgeons will do well to take into consideration is the 
general health of the subject, as in all cases of surgi- 
cal interference, any diseased tendency already exist- 
ing (perhaps latent) in the patient, such as an ansemic 
condition, a gourmy predisposition, or typhoid sus- 
ceptibility are likely to give rise to the development 
of serious and perhaps fatal sequelae to an operation 
which, simple as it may be in itself, is nevertheless 
not without danger, or of possible complications of 
its own. 

PREPARATIONS. 

The preparations to which the animal is to be sub- 
jected previous to undergoing the operation are the 
L-ime as those which are required in other cases of 
surgical manipulation. Some portions of the prep- 
arations are, perhaps, of even greater importance, 
and may not, on any account, be overlooked, when 
we take into consideration the peculiar position in 
which the animal must frequently be secured in order 
effectually to control his movements. Hence, a low 
diet for twenty-four hours preceding that appointed 
for the operation, and an empty stomach at the time 
of castration, with a thorough washing of the sheath? 
are precautions which no surgeon entitled to the 
name will overlook or neglect, especially when a soli- 



10 ANIMAL CASTRATION'. 

ped is to be subjected to the knife. It seems use- 
less at the present state of surgical practice to state 
that, even if the method of antiseptic castration is 
not applied, it is essential that the washing of the 
inguinal and scrotal regions as well as of the sheath 
should be thoroughly attended to, and that with anti- 
septic solutions. We shall discuss hereafter the 
indications in the case of the castration of large 
females. 



RESTRAINT. 

Two modes of restraint are employed in securing 
the animals during the manipulations for the re- 
moval of the testicles, one which is applied to all 
the various methods yet to be described, and the 
other applicable principally to the method of 
amputation of the cord by use of the e'craseur. In 
the former, the animal is thrown down and secured 
with one of his hind legs fixed in a position in 
which the inguinal region is fully exposed. In 
the latter he is allowed to remain in a standing 
posture, and is kept quiet by the application of 
a twitch upon his upper lip. As the first mode 
of securing the patient is the safest for all 
parties engaged in the undertaking, and from 
the further fact of its applicability in all methods 
of operating, we shall first consider it somewhat in 
detail. 



ANIMAL CASTltATION. 



11 



By veterinarians who employ the old method of 
casting with four hobbles, the animal, being properly 




prepared, is thrown upon whichever side corresponds 
with the operator's habit of manipulation, whether 



12 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

with the right hand or the left, and the leg opposite 

to that on which he is lying being released from the 

hobble, is carried forward upon the corresponding 

shoulder as far as it can safely be done. To effect 

this a loop of rope or platelonge is passed around 

the coronet, below the fetlock, the free end being 

carried forward over the dorsal border of the neck, 

under the neck, towards its anterior border, and is 

then carried back under the same hind leg, between 

the hinder extremities and over the hock, from the 

posterior border, where an assistant, stationed at 

the back of the animal, is ready to receive it. 

(Fig. 1.) 
By careful, gradual and steady pulling upon 

the rope the foot is brought forward upon the 

external surface of the shoulder, and there secured 

by two or three turns of the rope around the 

coronet. 

But it often occurs that in this position the 
inguinal region is not sufficiently exposed, and 
some of the steps of the operation may thus be 
rendered difficult, even when the surgeon has taken 
the precaution to pose the body of the patient 
and place him partly on his back, by means of 
bundles of straw pressed under the side upon which 
he lies. 

Many operators prefer the use of the double side 
line, with which, when the animal is thrown, both 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 13 

hind legs are brought forward together, and he is 
fixed squarely upon his back, and the inguinal 
region thus brought distinctly into view. The 
manipulation is thereby made easier for the surgeon, 
and, it is claimed, safer for the patient. 

The possibility of danger attending these methods 
has led many veterinarians in Europe, and in the 
United States as well, to prefer the operation with 
the animal in the standing posture. 

But it is to be considered that the same compli- 
cations may arise in all instances, with the exception 
of apprehended injury to the vertebral column, 
which, though possible, is almost unknown, in fact, 
at the usual age of the castrated animal. It is to 
be considered, likewise, that the animal on his feet 
is free to struggle as violently as he wishes, and is 
thus exposed to the risk of the pulling and lacera- 
tion of the spermatic cord, and a resulting pre- 
disposition to enlargements of that body and the 
formation of champignons. 

When it is considered, again, that by the traction 
of the cord the superior opening of the inguinal 
canal is necessarily dilated, and the formation of a 
hernia of castration is liable to take place, we 
submit the point to the intelligent judgment, 
whether, in the presence of these possibilities of 
extremely dangerous accidents, it does not become 
the duty of the veterinarian to prefer the mode of 




Fig. 2. 
1. Testicular envelope. 2. Posterior serous septum. 2 J . White 
muscular fibres of Bouley. 3. Serous membrane —portion 
of the tunica vaginalis 3'. 3". Visceral layers of the tunica 
covering the cord and the testicles. 4. The testicle with its 
peritoneal covering. 5. The epididymis. 5'. Globus major. 
5". Globus minor, the tail. 6. Deferent canal. 7. Spermatic 
blood vessels and nerves. 



ANIMAL CASTKATION. 15 

securing his patient in the supine position, both in 
his own behalf and that of his employer. 

It is not uncommon, however, to see veterinarians 
resort also to the use of stocks, in which the animal 
is kept standing and can probably be secured in a 
better way. 



ANATOMY. 

We now pass rapidly in review the anatomical 
structure of the inguinal region and of the testicular 
organs. A knowledge of these is of course essential 
to a proper understanding of the description of the 
various modes of operation, and of some of their 
sequelae, upon which we shall soon enter. 

The testicular envelopes, passing from the surface 
inwards, are represented by the scrotum, the dartos, 
the cellular coat, the tunica erythroida, formed by 
the cremaster, and the fibrous and serous or vaginal 
sac (Fig. 2). The scrotum is a continuation of the 
skin, and forms a complete bag, common to both 
testicles, which it contains and covers ; the skin being 
here thin, vascular and nervous, usually black in 
color, almost hairless, and soft and unctuous to the 
touch. It is divided into two lateral halves by a raphce 
or median line. It is very elastic, and easily yields 
to the efforts of distention, to which it is subjected, 
and when stretched over the organs it contains, pre- 
sents a shining aspect, due to the sebaceous secretion 
which covers it. It easily contracts to its shrunken 



IB ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

condition, and may be closely drawn up into the In- 
guinal canal, when it assumes a thickly wrinkled 
surface. 

The second envelope, the dartos, is a prolongation 
of the tunica abdominalis, and is a yellow, fibrous 
structure, forming two distinct sacs resting upon each 
other, and lying on the inside of the scrotum, to which 
it is intimately adherent. 

In the lateral and superior parts the adhesions are 
looser, and in front it becomes continuous with the 
suspensory ligament of the sheath, which, like itself, 
forms a portion of the abdominal tunic. Under the 
dartos is a layer of very loose cellular tissue, the 
lamellae of which are so formed that it may be divided 
into several superimposed layers. This formation 
endows the testicle with great mobility in the dartoid 
sac ; and these layers may be easily separated with 
the finger from the external surface of the fibrous 
coat beneath, except posteriorly, where it forms a 
strong band which sometimes requires even the aid 
of an instrument to divide. 

The next envelope is represented by the tunica 
erythroida which is the cremaster muscle, and from 
the lumbar region extends itself downwards into the 
inguinal canal along the outside of the cord, and ter- 
minates towards the superior part of the testicle in 
fibres spreading only over its external face. This 
muscle, by its deep surface, rests upon the fibrous 
coat — another envelope of the testicle and of the cord 
— and to which it is closely adherent. To the power- 
ful contraction of this muscle is due the retraction 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 17 

of the testicle into the depth of the groin, which con- 
dition sometimes it is so difficult to overcome in the 
first stages of the operation. 

The fibrous testicular envelope which we have just 
seen giving attachment to the cremaster, is a thin 
membranous bag, elongated like the neck of a bottle 
around the spermatic cord, which it envelopes, and 
dilated below, in order to enclose the testicle. Lined 
internally by the serous coat, to which it intimately 
adheres, this last membrane is a cluplicature of the 
peritoneum, drawn downwards by the testicle when 
it descends from the abdominal cavity into the in- 
guinal canal. This serous envelope has, therefore, 
two coats, one lying on the inside of the fibrous tunic, 
and called the parietal, and that which covers the 
cord and the testicle and is known as the visceral. 
These two layers approximate towards the posterior 
border of the cord, and, as they unite, form a sort of 
fold, band, or septum which divides into two parts the 
posterior portion of the vaginal cavity, and becomes 
a means of solid adhesion between the tail of the epi- 
didymis and the bottom of the sac. 

The testicles, thus covered by the visceral layer of 
the serous coat, are suspended at the end of the sperm- 
atic cord, and surmounted upon their superior border 
by the epididymis, the first part of the deferent canal, 
which is folded upon itself, while at its posterior ex- 
tremity—the "tail," so called— it continues in a 
straight course, and conveys the product of the secre- 
tion of the testicles into the vesicuhe seminales, 
lodged in the pelvic cavity. 



18 ANIMAL CASTKATION. 

The spermatic cord is formed anteriorly by the 
spermatic or great testicular artery, which forms, in 
that portion, a large number of nexuosities, caus- 
ing its length greatly to exceed that of the cord to 
which it belongs. It contains a network of veins, and 
lymphatic vessels in abundance, which are united to 
the curves of the artery by a somewhat loose cellular 
tissue. A large number of nervous branches, given 
off by the solar plexus, surrounds the whole. 

Between the lamellae of peritoneal structure which 
forms the posterior septum, and which unites the 
parietal with the visceral layer, there is found a band 
of grey muscular fibres — first discovered, I believe, 
by H. Bouley — which exerts a powerful agency in the 
retraction of the testicle towards the inguinal ring. 
Behind this muscle, and situated on the internal face 
of the septum, are found the deferent canal and the 
circumvolutions of the small testicular artery. 

Having thus considered the essential points of the 
anatomical structure of these organs, we shall next 
seek to enforce the importance of their careful study 
in reference to the intelligent and skilful performance 
of the important operation which we are discussing. 



CHAPTEE II. 

CLASSIFICATION OF THE METHODS — THREE CLASSES — 
FIRST, IMMEDIATE AMPUTATION — SECOND, AMPUTA- 
TION AFTER APPLICATION OF HEMOSTATIC MEANS 
UPON THE CORD — THIRD, WITHOUT AMPUTATION, BUT 
DESTRUCTION OF SECRETING POWER OF THE ORGAN 
— SIMPLE EXCISION — SCRAPING — TEARING AND TOR- 
SION — TORSION — FREE AND LIMITED — ABOVE OR 
BELOW THE EPIDIDYMIS — LINEAR CRUSHING — FIRING. 

The methods of performing the operation of cas- 
tration may be variously classified, though in each 
class a varying number of modes will come under 
our notice. 

The first class will include the operations by which, 
the envelopes having been cut through, the vaginal 
sac opened and the testicle exposed, the organ is 
separated by an immediate section of the cord. A 
number of different processes are included under 
this head, among which are those of scraping, of tear- 
ing, of torsion, of linear crushing, or by the ecraseur, 
and oi firing, or the actual cautery. 

(19) 



20 ANIMAL CASTRATION, 

The second class lias also for its first or prelimi- 
nary step, that of the first, viz., the incision of the 
bags, the opening of the vaginal sac, and the expos- 
ure of the testicle. But instead of removing the or- 
gan by the division of the cord, we proceed as a 
second step, to the application of an apparatus de- 
signed to operate by producing compression along 
the length of the cord, and in this are included but 
two modes of operating, that by the ligature and that 
by the damps. 

The third class, according to our category, presents 
to our view two further operations, both of which 
are essentially bloodless and dispense with the in- 
cision of the bags, consisting of certain peculiar 
manipulations which insure the destruction of the 
testicular structure, and consequently of its secre ting- 
power. They comprehend the process of the crush- 
ing of the spermatic cord, and that of subcutaneous double 
twisting — the bistournage of the French. 

We now enter upon the consideration of each of 
the separate modes we have thus enumerated. 

SIMPLE EXCISION. 

This is claimed to be one of the oldest modes of 
operating, and though to a great extent discarded by 
practitioners of the present day, still finds its appli- 
cation in the treatment of the smaller animals. With 
larger patients, however, though still strongly recom- 
mended by some practitioners, it is not generally em- 
ployed on account of the profuse hemorrhage which 
necessarily follows the amputation of the cord. Still 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 21 

it is conceded that this hemorrhage, as in many cases 
of the clean, transverse section of arterial blood 
vessels, will cease spontaneously by the contraction 
of the vessels on themselves, and the formation of a 
clot at the divided end, as well as in the surrounding 
cellular tissue. However, there is a possibility of the 
continuance of the hemorrhage for some length of 
time, and the bad effects of excessive depletion are 
not to be overlooked, especially in an animal whose 
general constitution has from any cause suffered im- 
pairment. If there is any one of the various modes 
of operating in which the standing position is allow- 
able, this, in our opinion, is the one, the steps 
of the process being so few and so short, and 
admitting such simplicity and rapidity. These con- 
sist in making a free opening in the bag, reaching 
with a single stroke of the knife into the vaginal 
cavity; grasping the testicle and pulling it gently 
downwards ; and cutting the cord right across, from 
the front backwards, above the epididymis, the cord 
returning of itself into the vaginal sac — the division 
being made, of course, on both sides. The animal is 
then kept quiet in his stall and left alone until the 
hemorrhage subsides. 

SCRAPING. 

This operation, which is said to have originated in 
India, is but a modification of the preceding. In- 
stead, however, of using a sharp edged instrument 
to divide the cord, the surgeon, on the contrary, em- 
ploys a dull knife, with which the coats of the artery 



22 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

and portions of the cord are scraped until the sepa- 
ration takes place. They are thus placed in good 
condition for their temporary closure. This method 
is probably attended with a diminished amount of 
hemorrhage, and if carefully performed, it may be 
entirely absent, the clot dosing the artery, and the 
condition of the lacerated threads of the vessel acting 
favorably, as well, in preventing it. The manipula- 
tions are similar to those accompanying the simple 
excision, though it is better and more safely effected 
when the animal is on his back. The testicles being 
exposed by the incision through the envelopes, the 
posterior septum of the cord is cut through by a 
transverse section, and the scraping of the anterior 
fasciculus of the cord then performed, by a slow 
movement from above downwards, along a certain 
extent, in order to effect a solution of continuity by 
a sort of wearing through the tissues. This opera- 
tion is slow and requires a careful hand for its execu- 
tion. But as it may in some cases be followed by 
severe hemorrhage, it cannot, for that reason, be 
recommended for large animals, for solipecls espe- 
cially. 

TEARING AND TORSION. 

These two modes of operation may, to a great ex- 
tent, be considered as identical. Indeed, the mode 
of torsion may be said to have arisen principally as a 
modification of that of tearing, which is the older. 
In tearing, the cord was subjected to a certain amount 
of torsion by the hand, and then torn apart at a given 



ANIMAL CASTKATION. 23 

point in its length ; while in the process of simple tor- 
sion, as properly performed, we obtain a division of the 
cord by twisting it with instruments, which enables 
the operator to effect the separation at a definitely 
determined spot. Tearing differs, then, from torsion 
only in the fact that after giving several twists to the 
cord in order to gather its fibres into a more compact 
mass, and to diminish the resistance of the more 
superficial layers, it is divided in its continuity by a 
violent traction upon its fibres in the direction of its 
length. 

In this process, especially applied to ruminants, 
the testicle being exposed, the operator secures the 
cord firmly with the thumb and index finger of one 
hand, to prevent the traction from taking effect too 
far upwards when being made by the other hand, 
after the cord has been twisted a few times on itself. 

TORSION. 

In this method of castration the cord is twisted 
with sufficient force to cause it to break of itself at 
the point of the greatest violence. Its design is to 
accomplish the removal of the testicle without drag- 
ging or excessive traction upon the cord, and thus to 
avoid the hemorrhage following the torsion of the 
spermatic artery, as a mode of hemostasis sufficient 
to prevent the flow of blood attendant upon the rup- 
ture of the cord. The operation may be performed 
either above or below the epididymis, or may con- 
sist simply in the torsion of the artery alone. At 
first the hands only were called upon to act in the 



24 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

manipulations, and the operation was from this 
cause known as free torsion, until about fifty years 
ago, when instruments were introduced into general 
practice, and gave rise to the plan of limited torsion. 

FREE TORSION. 

Free torsion, or that in which the hands alone are 
employed in the operation, may be performed, as 
before stated, either above or below the epididymis. 

Above the Epididymis. — The first is one of the oldest 
modes of castration known; one which must have 
been practiced contemporaneously with the use- of 
clamps, or in the first age of surgery. The first steps 
of the operation required for the exposure of the 
testicles are the same as have already been detailed. 
When this is accomplished the steps of torsion and 
rupture are then performed in the following manner : 
The operator, grasping the testicle, carefully draws 
out the spermatic cord, and with a pointed bistoury 
makes a transverse incision, above the tail of the 
epididymis, through the posterior septum of the 
cord, involving what we know as the white muscle of 
Bouley, the efferent canal, and the small testicular 
artery. He then seizes the anterior fasciculus of the 
cord between the thumb and index finger of the left 
hand, squeezing it as tightly as possible, and having 
with the other hand secured the cord at a short dis- 
tance below the point where the left hand has already 
been placed, performs the torsion by a rotatory 
movement given to the testicle itself, the motion 
having for its result the twisting and tearing of the 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 2& 

cord when long enough continued to overcome the 
tenacity of its fibres. Fifteen or twenty turns of the 
organ will usually be found sufficient to effect the 
rupture. A considerable degree of strength in the 
fingers is required in this movement, and for this 
reason the torsion may take effect further up than 
may be desired, and beyond the point designed, 
which may result in an unnecessary amount of irri- 
tation and injury. When the torsion has gone so far 
that the rupture of the cord has been effected, the 
stump is released, and retracts in the inguinal canal 
to a certain height limited by the presence of the 
posterior septum, which holds it in place, and to a 
great extent prevents its return through the superior 
orifice of the inguinal canal. 

Below the Epididymis. — This, the fourth step of the 
operation, consists in the separation of the testicle 
from the epididymis and the torsion of one upon the 
other. The testicle being exposed, the operator, 
taking hold of its appendix, the epididymis, with the 
left hand, and of the gland with the right, their cellu- 
lar serous attachment is divided by the thumbs from 
the posterior to the anterior extremity, from the tail 
to the head of the twisted efferent canal. If this 
cannot be done with the hand, the convex bistoury 
must be called into action. This accomplished, the 
head of the epididymis" is firmly secured with the 
fingers of the left hand, and the right hand, left free, 
gives to the testicle the number of rotatory motions 
necessary to separate it from its excretory canal — 
that is, from eight to ten. When the testicle is thus 



26 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 



severed, the stump of the end, with the epididymis, 
is pushed back into the vaginal sac, where it is con- 
fined by the application of a suture upon the middle 
of the edge of the scrotal wound. 



LIMITED TORSION. 

Limited Torsion Above the Epididymis. — As we have 
seen, this is the operation by which the division of 
the spermatic cord is effected by torsion made upon 
a given point in its length, and limited by the use of 
special instruments. 

We have already called attention to the difficulty 

Fig. 3. 
A B C 






FIXING FORCEPS FOR TORSION. 

A.— Eenault and Delafond pattern. 
B. — Perier. 
C— Reynal, 



ANIMAL CASTKATTOft. 



27 



of the operation of free torsion, which requires a 
great deal of strength, and which, besides, may be 
accompanied by a serious inflammatory condition of 
the parts, through rough manipulations of the cord. 
It is for this reason that this mode of procedure 
must have been reserved for small animals, as, if 
performed upon the larger kinds, it can only be by 
men whose muscular force is sufficient to enable 
them to overcome and bring into subjection the 
struggling subjects of their operations. 

It was in 1883 that two French veterinarians, 
Renault and Delafond, of the Alfort school, intro- 
duced the use of instruments in the operation, as an 
improvement upon the manual methods and their 
effects on the sequelae, though it is said to have been 
Fig. 4. 





MOVING FORCEPS FOR CASTRATION BY TORSION. 

tlenault and Delafond pattern. Reynal pattern. 



2S ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

already practiced in Germany as far back as the last 
century. The instruments employed are two forceps 
of peculiar construction, and which were more or 
less modified, one of which (fixing forceps, Fig. 3,) 
is to be applied upon a fixed point of the cord, where 
it is suffered to remain, and the other (moving forceps, 
Fig. 4,) is employed to accomplish the rotation of 
the testicle and the lower end of the cord. Those of 
Renault and Delafond or of Reynal are now in gen- 
eral use. Those of Beaufils (Fig. 5) are, we believe, 
too complicated for general use. 

Modus Operandi. — In the first step of the opera- 
tion, the ordinary manipulations of the division of 
the envelopes, the opening of the sac and exposure 
of the testicle being accomplished, and the envelopes 
being carefully pushed upwards, the torsion and ex- 
cision of the cord are effected in the following man- 
ner : The entire cord is embraced by the fixing forceps 
(see Fig. 6), or only its anterior fasciculus if the poste- 
rior septum has been cut, as in the process by free 
torsion above the epididymis. An assistant, seizing it 
from before backwards between its open branches 
and strongly closing them, holds it firmly, without 
pulling upon the cord. The operator then grasps 
the cord with the moving forceps above the testicle, 
and a little below the point held by the assistant, 
leaving a small space between the instruments, and 
closing his own tightly, begins the movement of tor- 
sion, which he directs from left to right. For this 
he sometimes requires both hands, one of them keep- 
ing the instrument in place, while the other continues* 



30 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 



the rotation as described. Ten or fifteen turns of the 
forceps are usually sufficient to complete the rupture 




of the cord, the artery, owing to its facility of elonga- 
tion, being the last part to give way. The testicle 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 31 

then separates, being held in the branches of the 
moving forceps ; the fixing forceps are removed, and 
the cord is drawn upwards into the vaginal sac. It 
is important in this operation to caution the assist- 
ant against drawing on the cord during the struggles 
of the animal, consequent upon the pain caused by 
the first application of the instruments, and the 
pressure upon the parts when held between their 
inflexible iron jaws ; but on the contrary, to maintain 
it as closely as possible against the inguinal region. 

This process of castration is one of the most rapid 
of all the forms of operating. The only hemorrhage 
likely to occur is merely that of the small testicular 
artery, if it should happen to be divided when the 
torsion is confined to the front portion of the cord. 

Beloiv the Epididymis. — This process differs from 
the preceding only in the fact that instead of holding 
the cord between the fingers, it is held by the fixed 
forceps, the use of the moving instrument being ren- 
dered unnecessary by the slightness of the adhesion 
of the seminal gland to its appendix. 

LINEAR CRUSHING. 

The originator of the use of that peculiar instru- 
ment, the ecraseur (Fig. 7), so valuable an adjunct 
in the operation of castration, is Mr. H. Bouley, 
who brought it into use at a date as early as the 
year 1857. It is not, therefore, an American inven- 
tion, as has sometimes been claimed. The function 
of this instrument is to effect the division of living 
parts without hemorrhage. The original ecraseur 



32 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 



of Chassaignac has received many modifications, all 
of which, however, operate npon the same principle. 



Fig. 




various kcs-bs of bcbasbdbs. 

While those represented in Fig. 7 are nsed by a 
greater nnmber of veterinarians, there are others 
which count many advocates and have given them 



ANIMAL CASTEATION. 



33 



gTeat satisfaction, such as those represented in Fig. 7a. 
The essential design of all is to produce a general 
constriction of the blood vessels, by which their in- 
ternal and middle coats being first divided, may con- 
tract within the cavity of the vessel in such a manner 
as to close their cavity and form a sort of stopper to 

Fig. la. 





the artery, while the external cellular covering, the 
last to undergo division, is so stretched, under the 
action of the instrument, and so closely adapts itself 
by its ends, that insufflation through the free ends 
of the vessels fails to remove the closing arrange- 
ment of the two coats first divided. 

Modus Operandi. — The operation is comparatively 



34 ANIMAL CASTEATION. 

a Tery simple one. The testicle being exposed, as 
in all the other methods, the chain of the instrument 
is so placed around the cord that the pressure takes 
place upon the greater mass of tissue, in order that 
it may continue the longer ; which being done, the 
lever of the instrument is brought into action, and 
the constriction caused by the chain slowly kept up 
until the definite division of the tissue is accom- 
plished. The essential condition of success in the 
operation, having in view the desired hemostatic 
effect, is to act slowly. According to Prof. Bouley, 
an interval of several seconds should be suffered to 
elapse after each rotation of the wheel which moves 
the chain. If the tissues are divided too rapidly, 
the section of the artery is apt to be too clean, and 
a hemorrhage is likely to be the result. This objec- 
tion, however, though made by one of the highest 
authorities in veterinary surgery, does not seem to be 
justified by the results obtained by American opera- 
tors, most of whom both recommend and practice its 
execution as rapidly as possible; and according to 
their own statements a serious hemorrhage is seldom 
encountered. The fact that it has been observed in 
any case, however, confirms the wisdom of the recom- 
mendation of Prof. Bouley, and as most of our Ameri- 
can confreres prefer the operation with the animal in 
the standing posture, the reason of their neglect of 
the prudent and more truly surgical process can be 
readily appreciated. To avoid the hemorrhage Dr. 
House invented a clamp which he applied upon the 
cord previous to the amputation with the ecraseur 



ANIMAL CASTRATION, oD 

(Fig. 8). This mode of castration has not been ven 
extensively practiced by European practitioners iv* 
to late years. But since the visit that Dr. House* 
made in Europe, when he was called in many in- 
stances to exhibit his modus operandi, it seems to have 
been accepted in the general practice of quite a 
number of veterinarians. However, the essential 

Fig. 8 




HOUSE CLAMPS. 



necessity of safety which so protracts its performance 
will probably prevent its admission by the majority 
of practitioners. 



FIRING. 



This mode of castration consists in the application 
to the cut end of the testicular cord — previously 



3o 



AN DIAL CASTRATION. 



divided with the bistoury, or by the cautery— 

as a means of hemostasis, of an iron heated to a 

Fig. 9. 





SINGLE FOECEPS FOE CASTRATION BY FIRING. 




DOUBLE FOECEPS FOR CASTE ATION BY FIEING. 

white heat — the actual cautery. This is claimed to 
be one of the oldest modes of operating, Vegetius 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 37 

and Absyrtus describing it as a common process of 
castration. It is much in favor in England, and in 
some parts of Germany, though less practiced in 
some other parts of Europe. The instruments es- 
sentially needed for the operation of castration by 
firing are two ; the first, a peculiar forceps for hold- 
ing the cord and securing it ivhile the application of 
the cautery is being made ; and the second, the iron 
or cautery itself. 

These forceps, or nippers, are either single or double 
(Fig. 9), and may be made either of wood or of iron, 
and more or less modified in form, according to the 
fancies of the different operators. But they all work 
on the same principle, and effect the same object. 
With the single forceps but one cord can be treated 
at a time, but with the double instrument both cords 
may be secured at once, and may be divided and 
cauterized at one step. In this way the possibility 
of disturbing the eschar caused by the cauterization 
of one cord while manipulating the second, is quite 
obviated. 

When the testicles, either or both, have been ex- 
posed, the mass of the cord is fixed between the jaws 
of the forceps, from before backwards, at about one 
inch above the tail of the epididymis, and firmly se- 
cured. This may be effected either by tying it 
tightly with a string wound about the handles, or by 
means of a spring crank with which some instru- 
ments are furnished. The testicle is then amputated, 
either by a stroke of the bistoury, or with the sharp 
edge of the cautery carried across and at a right 



38 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

angle with the direction of the cord. This done, the 
operator applies the broad portion of the iron over 
the entire surface of the stump of the spermatic cord., 
and cauterizes (or sears) the part thoroughly. It 
must be remembered that to insure the safety of tL& 
cauterization, the iron must be very hot. Otherwise^ 
when it is removed, if it has cooled off, it may ad- 
here to the carbonized surface, and the scab formed 
at the end of the blood vessel may accompany th* 
instrument. The application of pulverized rosin to 
the end of the cord, previous to the cauterization, it 
recommended by some practitioners. 

A verv proper precaution, and one on no &ceoun* 
to be omitted, is the protection of the surrounding 
parts from the radiating heat by covering them with 
wet cloths. 

TVhen the operation is completed, the forceps 
should be opened with great care, in order to ascer- 
tain whether all hemorrhage has ceased, and thd 
cord may be allowed to retract. If any oozing o; 
blood appears at the point of the operation, the caiv 
terization must be repeated at the point incL'cated. 

A free application of cold water, in the form of a 
douche, after the operation, will contribute to tLo 
formation of a clot in the cauterized artery. 



CHAPTER III 

METHODS OF THE SECOND CLASS — CLAMPS — COVERED 
AND UNCOVERED OPERATION — INSTRUMENTS — POUR 
VARIOUS STEPS — OBJECTION TO THIS METHOD — TIME 
TO REMOVE THE C LA MPS — LIGATURE — OF THE CORD 
AND ITS ENVELOPES — OF THE CORD ONLY — OF THE 
SPERMATIC ARTERY — OF THE EFFERENT CANAL — 
SUBCUTANEOUS OPERATION. 

Having completed the consideration of the various 
methods included in the first class, we propose next 
to examine those entering into the second, which 
embrace those in which certain means of pressure 
are applied and suffered to remain upon the cord 
previous to the amputation of the testicle. These 
are two in number, and consist of the process known 
as that of the clamps, and that which involves the 
use of the ligature. 

THE METHOD BY THE CLAMPS. 

This is an ancient mode of operating, having been 
transmitted to us through many ages. It has re- 
ceived the sanction of long practice, and, if not 

(39) 



40 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

absolutely superior to all others, is possessed of 
qualities and advantages which all who have em- 
ployed it will freely acknowledge. 

It is performed in two ways. One is the process of 
the covered, the other of the uncovered testicle. The 
covered operation is that in which only a portion of 
the testicular envelopes are divided, the scrotum and 
the dartos, the gland being left covered with the other 
envelopes. On the other hand, in the uncovered 
operation, all the enveloping membranes are divided, 
and the testicle is made to protrude outside of the 
vaginal sac. The first three steps of this mode of 
operating are understood to have been performed in 
the methods which we have already considered as 
generally preliminary in all cases, in order to obtain 
access to the cord. 

The instruments necessary to operate in this case 
are a very sharp convex bistoury, a pair of clamps, 
some strong twine, a castrating forceps and a pair of 
scissors, The clamps are wooden or metallic pincers, 
formed to embrace the cord and to be applied firmly 
upon it, in order to hold it securely, and to co nfin e 
the artery tightly enough to prevent the occurrence 
of hemorrhage. The form most ordinarily used, and 
probablv most convenient, is made of wood, and con- 
sists of two semi-cylindrical pieces (Fig. 10) joined at 
one end and resting together by a flat and sometimes 
grooved surface, and measuring about six inches in 
length. The material is a light but strong wood. 
They are rounded at the extremities, in order to avoid 
chafing the soft tissues. A groove at each end is de- 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 



41 



signed to receive the twine, which is part of the ap- 
pliance. Before being nsed they are tightly tied 
together at one end, in such a manner that they 

Fig. 10. 




ORDINARY CLAMP. 




INTERNAL FACE OF CLAMPS. 

spring open if closed. This point is one of the first 
importance. It requires considerable exercise of 
strength to place them tightly enough on the cord 
they are to hold, but this firm juxtaposition, so ob- 
tained, facilitates their removal, when that is required. 
The groove which they carry on their flat surface 
is sometimes filled with some merely lubricating 
greasy substance, usually simple ointment, fresh 
lard, butter, or cream, though some veterinarians 
use a caustic paste. This last mode of proceeding 
is strongly opposed by some authorities, as likely to 
induce unnecessary inflammatory action,, through 



42 



ANIMAL CASTBATIOJf. 



the formation of a scab, which may require for its 
removal a process of sloughing, which may in some 
cases give rise to serious complications. As I have 
stated, the clamps are not always made of wood, and 
very many alterations and improvements, so called, 



Fig. 11. 
various shapes of clamps. 




Screwed Clamp. Spring Clamp of Brandt. Hinge Clamp, 

have been from time to time brought forward. In Fig. 
11 a few of these clamps are presented. The oldest 
form is the simplest, and possesses the further ad- 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 



43 



vantage of being always easy to be obtained, while the 
more complicated contrivances are not always easy 
of access. 

The castrating forceps (Fig. 12) are used for bring- 

Fig. 12. 





FORCEPS TO HOLD THE CLAMP 
TOGETHER. 



VISE FOR THE SAME. 



ing the clamps together while they hold the spermatic 
cord between their branches. There are several kinds 
of these, but in default of obtaining them readily, the 
operator may find an eligible substitute in the black- 



4A ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

smith's nippers or the gasfitter's tongs. We have 
used this latter for a good many years, and have 
found it very well adapted to the purpose required, 
by the presence of its set of double curved and grooved 
jaws. The twine which it is necessary to use to 
keep the clamps closed when they have been brought 
into perfect contact with the castrating forceps, must 
be soft and strong. A piece of fishing line, previously 
waxed, will answer the purpose very well. In order to 
facilitate the traction which may be necessary to keep 
the clamps in place, it is a good precaution to attach 
the ends of the twine to small wooden handles 
to protect the hands from cutting by the string. It 
is well, also, to prepare a reserve of clamps and twine 
against accidents from breakage or the mislaying oi 
these articles. 

COVERED OPERATION. 

Modus Operandi. — The animal being thrown on 
either side, as already described, and kept as 
nearly as possible on his back by bundles of 
straw packed under him on the lower side, and 
the right hind leg secured in its proper position, and 
the instruments placed within easy reach, the sur- 
geon proceeds with the fourfold steps of the opera^ 
tion, consisting first, in the prehension of the left 
testicle, or lowest in position ; second, the incision 
through the envelopes ; third, the enucleation of the 
testicle ; and fourth, the application and constriction 
of the clamps. 

First step, — The operation must always begin with 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 45 

the prehension of the gland which corresponds with 
the side — the lower — upon which the animal is lying. 
This obviates any danger of interference by any little 
hemorrhage which might occur, and so facilitates the 
application of the clamps. Then, placing himself 
toward the back of the patient, the operator reaches 
over and grasps the lower testicle with both hands, 
bringing it downwards in snch a manner as to stretch 
the scrotum over its surface. This manipulation is 
not always of easy performance, the contraction of 
the cremaster muscle being sometimes so powerful 
that the gland successfully resists all the operator's 
efforts of traction. It is sometimes necessary to di- 
vert the attention of the animal, in order to facilitate 
this part of the process, by pricking him with a pin 
on the lips or about the anus, the effect of the new 
sensation being such that his opposition is withdrawn* 
and the contraction ceasing, he suffers passively the 
traction of the envelopes over the organ. Or, the 
same advantage may be obtained by the inhalation 
of a little ether or chloroform. Then grasping the 
cord with the left hand and bringing the organ well 
forward, the surgeon proceeds to the 

Second step, or that of the incision of the envelope. 
Holding the sharp convex bistoury in his right hand, 
he takes, with the thumb, a point oVappui upon the 
prominent organ, and carries it carefully over the 
surface of the scrotum in a direction parallel with 
the median raphe (described in the first chapter), and 
following the great curvature of the testicle, and be- 
ing careful with the first movement of the instru- 



46 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

merit to divide only the scrotal skin and the dartos, 
until the most superficial layers of the cellular tissue 
of the third testicular envelope are reached. The 
skin and the dartos being divided, the edges of the 
wound separate, and the testicle, still pressed down- 
wards and outwards with the left hand, protrudes 
more or less, still included, as it is, within its fibrous 
covering. A careful dissection, with a few light 
strokes of the bistoury, or laceration with the thumb 
nail of the hand, now suffices for the separation of 
the fibrous envelope from its external covering, an 
entire separation of both of which can thus be easily 
obtained by pressing the most external layer up- 
wards through the laceration of the cellular coat 
which unites them. 

Third step. — The operator now relieves himself of 
his instrument — not, we may venture to suggest, by 
placing it between his teeth, as some careless sur- 
geons are apt to do, but by handing it to an assistant 
— and, changing his position, places himself in front 
of the inguinal region, and facing it. He then pro- 
ceeds to the enucleation of the testicle, by separat- 
ing the adhesion which exists between the internal 
face of the dartos and the external surface of the 
cremaster muscle and of the fibrous tunic. The 
separation being completed, and the scrotum and 
dartos being carefully pushed upwards, the patient 
is now ready for the last step of the operation. 

Fourth step. — The testicle, well enucleated from its 
superficial envelopes, but still covered by the fibrous 
coat, and the vaginal sac still remaining intact, the 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 47 

operator, facing, as before, the inguinal region, pro- 
ceeds to the application of the clamps. The cutane- 
ous covering and the dartos being pushed well up- 
wards, the clamp is placed upon the cord above the 
epididymis, from before backwards, the assistant, 
armed with the castrating forceps, taking both of its 
branches between the jaws of that instrument, care- 
fully bringing them together, and closing them as 
tightly as possible. The instant of the pressure of 
the clamp upon the cord is marked by very severe 
pain, and the suffering animal is excited to powerful 
struggling. It is important that the assistant should 
be aware of this, and he should be forewarned to re- 
frain from pulling on the cord, and reminded, in 
order to avoid injury from this accident, to keep the 
clamps and the forceps steadily in contact with the 
inguinal canal. It is probably with a view to the 
avoidance of this possible injury that the use of a 
peculiarly constructed vise or forceps has been rec- 
ommended. The forceps being in place, and tightly 
confining the branches of the clamps, well adjusted, 
the operator now applies the twine, and after taking 
several turns around the grooves of che free ends of 
the clamps, secures it carefully with a double knot. 

The operation is then repeated on the right or up- 
permost testicle in the same manner, and with the 
same precautions. 

UNCOVERED OPERATION. 

The four steps of this operation are the same as 
those of the previous method, the first requiring the 



48 ANIMAL CASTKATION. 

same manipulations and observing the same order, 
but the second involving some variations. In this 
the same careful dissection is dispensed with, and 
one free incision suffices, including all the various 
envelopes, in order to expose the testicle freely and 
at once. The incision is made with one free stroke 
of the bistoury extending from the posterior to the 
anterior extremity of the testicle, and dividing at 
once scrotum, dartos, and the fibrous and serous 
coats. Though this is to be done without hesitation, 
it is by no means necessary to adopt the practice of 
some operators, who not only divide the envelopes, 
but even make a large incision in the testicular 
structure itself, inflicting thus an unnecessary amount 
of pain from which the animal might, with a little 
care, have been spared. 

When the surgeon reaches the third step of the 
operation, and seizes the testicle with the right hand* 
in order to draw it downward and outside of the 
vaginal sac, he may encounter great resistance to his 
traction, from the powerful opposition of the white 
muscular tissue running along the posterior septum 
of the cord. He must then slowly and steadily draw 
the testicle down, and at a given moment, with a 
single stroke with a sharp pointed bistoury, divide 
the serous band of the posterior septum, cutting at 
once the muscular fibres, the efferent canal and the 
small testicular artery. This being effected, the re- 
sistance will terminate, and the testicle may be 
drawn down without further difficulty. The division 
of the septum is not always resorted to. Still, the 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 49 

verdict of experience is strongly in favor of the meas- 
ure. The application of the clamps (Fig. 13) is 

Fig. 13. 




CASTRATION WITH UNCOVERED TESTICLE. 

effected in the same manner as in the covered opera- 
tion, but in this instance the clamp is placed higher 
on the cord. For this reason the assistant must be 
especially careful during the struggles of the patient 
when the clamps are tightened, the danger of inguinal 
hernia at this point being too serious to be overlooked. 
The clamps being in place, and properly secured, 
the testicles are either left in place and allowed to 
slough away, or are amputated a short distance be- 
low the clamps, as the case may be. The parts being 
carefully washed out, the animal is allowed to rise, 
and is returned to his stall. 

An objection frequently urged against this mode of 
operation is that it requires a second visit of the sur- 
geon when the time has arrived for the removal of 
the clamps. Estimating tlii« objection at its proper 



50 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

value, we consider that it is more than balanced by 
the advantages attendant upon this special mode of 
castration, and while we fully apjjreciate the difficulty 
and inconvenience to which the surgeon may be sub- 
jected by this second visit, we cannot approve of its 
omission, either from a surgical point of view or in 
that of the interests of the employers, in whose be- 
half all care and responsibility should be exercised, 
until the patient is at least enjoying a fair prospect 
of recovery. 

The- question now arises, at what time can the 
clamp be removed with safety ? It must be under- 
stood that there may sometimes be peculiar surgical 
conditions under which their removal is contra-indi- 
cated, and when they must be allowed to slough off 
without further interference on our part. But even 
in ordinary cases and under favorable circumstances, 
this time appears to vary. By some they are re- 
moved after thirty-six hours, while others allow them 
to remain for a period of four or five days. Taking 
a fair average, we are of opinion that it may be safely 
done on about the third day, and that at that period 
the closing of the artery is sufficiently assured to re- 
move all further pressure. 

If the clamps have been secured with twine, and 
especially if they were properly prepared previously 
to their application, the process of removal is a very 
simple one. The assistant, raising one of the patient's 
hind legs, the operator places himself directly be- 
hind the animal, and bending down, with a sharp 
sage-knife, cuts the twine where it has secured the 



ANIMAL CASTBATION. 51 

posterior ends of the clamp. If it retains the springi- 
ness it ought to have possessed at the time of its 
original application, the branches readily spring 
open, and it falls to the ground. If this does not 
occur, or if they should be held by adhesions with 
some dried parts of the cords which have been press- 
ed between the branches of the clamps, they must 
be carefully separated by moving from below up- 
wards, when they will easily become detached. But 
this last manipulation must be very carefully per- 
formed, if we would escape a hemorrhage which 
might require serious measures to control. When 
clamps of another make are used, the process of re- 
moval will vary according to existing peculiarities in 
the construction of the instrument. The clamp hav- 
ing been removed from one side, the separation from 
the other will, of course, be managed in a similar 
manner. 

THE LIGATURE. 

This method of castration consists in the applica- 
tion of a circular ligature upon the entire cord, or 
a portion of it, for the purpose of completely clos- 
ing it, with the various parts entering into its forma- 
tion. It was in practice so long ago as 1734. The 
operation is divided into several varieties, viz., that of 
the cord with its envelopes ; that of the cord only, 
either by the covered or uncovered method ; that of 
the spermatic artery alone; that of the efferent 
canal ; and that by the subcutaneous process. 

The ligature used in these various modes of opera- 



52 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

tion is formed of waxed silk ; sometimes of strong 
twine, as fishing line, for example ; or, as more 
recently introduced in surgery in the removal of liv- 
ing growths and tumors, an elastic cord. 

Ligation of the cord and its envelopes. — This process 
is principally used upon small animals, although, 
since the elastic cord has been brought into use, a 
few attempts have been made to make it applicable 
to the larger kinds. The experiments, however, 
have been as yet so few, and the results so unsatis- 
factory, and in so many cases fatal, that it can scarcely 
be recommended, except for small subjects. The ap- 
plication of this is very simple. It consists, after 
securing the patient, in bringing the testicles as far 
down into the scrotum as may be thought needful, 
and after applying the ligature two or three times 
around the cord, a short distance above them (Fig. 
14), slowly and steadily tightening it until a suf- 
ficient amount of force has been employed to close 
the calibre of the blood vessel and cut off the circu- 
lation from the parts situated below the point of li- 
gation. This mode of operating has, in our hands, 
proved very successful in small animals, and when 
the elastic ligature has been used. Mortification has 
taken place in a few days, the testicles slowly detach- 
ing themselves at the point of ligature, and when 
falling off leaving but a very small superficial, cuta- 
neous scab, and healing in a short time. 

Under this chapter we think well to mention a new 
mode of operation invented and even recently pat- 
ented in Europe and in the United States, by a 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 



53 



French veterinarian, under the name of " Castration 
en masse.'* Instead of resorting to a ligature envel- 
oping the entire mass, bags and cord, a specially 
Fig. 14. 




CASTRATION BY LIGATION OF THE CORD AND ENVELOPES. 



54 Animal castration. 

made clamp is applied, embracing both cords, tightly 
closed and left in place to slough. The author claims 
that when the clamp drops, only a small, simple 
granulating wound remains, which soon heals. 

Ligature of the cord only : covered operation. — The 
first three steps of the operation having been accom- 
plished, and the testicle enucleated, the ligature is 
placed around the cord, still covered by its fibrous 
envelopes and the cremaster muscle. A piece of 
twine or an elastic ligature may be employed for 
this purpose. In this operation the testicles are al- 
lowed to remain not less than twenty-four hours, be- 
fore amputation is performed, in order that if the 
pressure has been insufficient, and the parts should 
fail to exhibit symptoms of loss of vitality after that 
time, another ligature may be applied. 

Uncovered operation. — The only variation between 
*his method and the one last considered is found 
in the fact that in this, the testicle and cord 
being exposed as in the process of castration with 
the clamp, the ligature is applied either on the cord 
as a whole, or only on its anterior fasciculus. In this 
case the testicle is amputated immediately after the 
application of the ligature. But as there is a possi- 
bility of the slipping off of the ligature, great care 
must be taken lest the amputation be performed too 
near the point where the constriction is made. And 
again, as there is a possibility of the truncated cord 
being drawn too far up, even up into the abdominal 
cavity, it becomes a precaution of prudence, as rec- 
ommended by Mr. Bouley, to leave a sufficient length 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 55 

of the ligature hanging outside of the scrotal wound, 
and even to secure it on the edges of the skin. 

Ligation of the spermatic artery. — This is a mode of 
castration which, if we are not mistaken, was held 
in high estimation by certain practitioners in the 
city of Boston. It consists simply in the application 
of a ligature of silk to the spermatic artery. Tbe 
cord being exposed, and the posterior septum being 
divided, a curved needle armed with the ligature is 
made to pass around the whole mass of the anterior 
fasciculus, and the entire vascular cord is surrounded 
by the ligature and firmly tightened. The fact of 
the various and irregular flexuosities peculiar to the 
spermatic artery, with both ascending and descend- 
ing portions, explains the necessity of including the 
entire arterial mass under the ligature, since, if only 
>the simple cord of the artery were ligated, it might 
be an ascending portion only, and the amputation of 
the testicle might be followed by a troublesome 
hemorrhage from one of the descending loops. 

Ligation of the efferent canal and the subcutaneous li- 
gation of the cord. — These two modes of operating 
have not yet yielded sufficient evidence in the form 
of satisfactory results to be entitled to more than 
passing mention at the present time. We may say 
further, moreover, that among all the methods of 
castration by ligation, none of them have been sub- 
jected to a sufficient amount of practical test to be 
accepted as a process which will justify a strong rec- 
ommendation or unqualified approval. 



CHAPTEE IV. 

THIRD METHOD OF CASTRATION — CRUSHING OF THE 
TESTICULAR CORD — DOUBLE SUBCUTANEOUS 
TORSION— BISTOURNAGE— FOUR STEPS OF THE 
OPERATION— SYMPTOMS FOLLOWING— CASTRA- 
TION OF MALES OF SMALL ANIMALS— CASTRA- 
TION OF CRYPTORCHIDS— ABDOMINAL CRPTOR- 
CHIDY — INGUINAL CRYPTORCHIDY — MODUS 
OPERANDI — EFFECTS FOLLOWING THE OPERA- 
TION OF CASTRATION — MODE OF CICATRIZATION 
HYGIENIC AND SUBSEQUENT ATTENTIONS OR 
AFTER CARES. 

As I have before stated, the third method of cas- 
tration embraces the processes in which the testicu- 
lar envelopes are left intact, while it is the gland or 
cord which is submitted to the peculiar manipula- 
tions by which their structure, and therefore the 
secreting powers of the testicle, are so essentially 
modified. In treating of this method, two special 
operations present themselves for our consideration, 
to wit : the crushing of the testicular support, and the 
double subcutaneous twisting, or bistournage, of the 
French. These are employed principally in the 

(56) 



Animal castration. 57 

castration of ruminants, though efforts have been 
made to apply the latter in the case of solipeds. 
The modes of operating which we have already de- 
scribed are, however, also applicable to the rumi- 
nants. 

CRUSHING OF THE TESTICULAR CORD. 

This consists in crushing the spermatic cord with 
fi hammer, the vessel continuing, meanwhile, to be 
covered with its envelopes. It was first described 
in the year 1826, and is most commonly practised in 
some French districts. The instruments used are 
two cylindrical pieces of wood, each about one yard 
in length and two inches in diameter ; and a hammer 
or mallet formed of hard and heavy wood. The ani- 
mal being properly secured in the standing position, 
the testicles being drawn well down into the bottom 
of the envelopes, the sticks are placed, one behind 
and one in front of the cord, close to the upper ex- 
tremity of the gland. When in that position they 
are moved in such a manner that instead of remain- 
ing, one in front of the other, one becomes so super- 
imposed upon the other that the spermatic cord be- 
comes twisted in the form of the letter S (Fig. 15). 
While held together in this position by an assistant, 
the operator, placing himself in front of one side of 
the hind quarter, with repeated blows of the hammer 
or mallet, crushes the cord at the point where it 
rests upon the wood which occupies the inferior 
position, of course guaging the force and frequency 
ct' the blows by the effect observed, until the crush- 



58 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 



ing of tlie organ is satisfactorily accomplished. As 
a measure of caution, it will be well, upon the com- 
pletion of the process of crushing, to surround the 
cord with a ligature moderately tightened, in order 
to guard against the drawing up of the cord into the 

FiCx. 15. 




CASTRATION BY CRUSHING OF THE CORD. 

inguinal canal, an accident not likely to occur, how- 
ever, if the operation has been well performed. 

DOUBLE SUBCUTANEOUS TORSION; BISTOURNAGE. 

In this mode of operating, principally in vogue in the 
southern parts of France, the position of the testicle 



ANIMAL CASTRATIOJJ. 69 

is so changed that its lower extremity is made to 
take the place of the upper, the cord is subjected to 
a certain decree of torsion, and then the testicle is 
restored to its normal position, to undergo a process 
of atrophy which destroys its power of secretion by 
a physiological action. The great length of the cord 
and the greater laxity of the cellular tissue situated 
between the dartos and the fibrous coat, render this 
operation much easier in the ruminants than in the 
solipeds. Simple in its manipulations, although still 
involving a certain degree of dexterity, and followed 
by comparatively no symptoms of reactive fever, 
the only instrument necessary for its performance is 
a piece of cord, twine, or rubber, sufficiently strong 
to secure the testicular envelopes when the gland 
has been subjected to the double displacement, and 
the cord to the torsion it has undergone. In this 
operation, no special preparation being demanded, 
the animal is usually treated on his feet. 

The late Mr. Serres, of the veterinary school of 
Toulouse, divides the operation into four steps, viz., 
first, the softening of the bags and separation of the 
'dartos from the fibrous tissue; second, the displace- 
ment (dislocation) of the testicle; third, the torsion 
of the cord ; and fourth, the pushing up of the testicles 
into the inguinal region, with the application of the 
ligature to keep them in place. 

°The first step is the most difficult for the surgeon 
as well as the most painful to the horse, though the 
contrary is the fact where the subject is an ox. The 
operator, stationing himself behind the animal, 



60 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

grasps the testicles with both hands (Fig. 16) and 
quickly draws them down into the scrotum. Hold- 

FiG. 16(A). 




DOUBLE SUBCUTANEOUS TORSION IN CATTLE. 

Softening the bags — first position of the hands. 

ing them there with the right hand, with the left he 
raises the scrotum by the lower part, firmly pulling 
upon it downwards and slightly from before back- 
wards. The testicles are then moyed upward and 
downward in the sac, carrying with them the fibrous 
covering. During this time a peculiar crackling 
sound is heard, which is caused by the tearing apart 
of the fibres of the cellular tissue lying between the 
dartos and the fibrous coat. This laceration is some- 
times difficult to effect, especially in aged animals, in 
which case the up and down motion of the testicles 
will require a greater number of repetitions before 
the adhesions are torn. 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 



61 



The second step consists in the displacement or 
dislocation of the testicle, which is accomplished in 



Fig. 16 (B). 




DOUBLE SUBCUTANEOUS TOBSION IN CATTLE, 

Softening of the bags — second position of the hands. 

the manner following: The testicles being pushed 
well upwards in the vaginal sac, one of them, the 
left, for example, is drawn well downwards with the 
left hand, which grasps the cord above the epididymis 



62 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 



(Fig. 17), the thumb resting on the back of the cor A, 
and the remaining ringers in front of it, while the 
right hand,, placed in pronation, pinches the inferior 

Fig. 17. 




DOUBLE STBCTTAXEOrS TOKSION ES CATTX.B. 

Position of the Left hand at the beginning of the second stf>p. 
part of the scrotum. Maintaining these dispositions, 
the testicles are displaced by the simultaneous action 
of both hands, the left pushing the cord from above 
downwards and from before backwards, in such a 
manner as to depress as much as possible the supe- 
rior extremity of the gland, while with the fingers of 
the right hand, resting by their dorsal face against 
the posterior part of the testicle (Fig. 18), the inferior 
extremity of that organ is pushed upwards. With- 
out losing hold of the envelope, the movement of this 
hand gives way to these opposite and simultaneous 
pressures, that of the left hand tending to lower the 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 



63 



head of the testicle, and that of the right elevating 
its tail, and the gland is being flexed upon the cord 
from which it is suspended, backwards and upwards. 
At the moment when the testicle forms an acute 
fcugle with the cord, the thumb of the left hand, rest- 

Fig. 18. 




DOUBLE SUBCUTANEOUS TORSION IN CATTLE. 

Second step. 

ing upon the cord, comes into action to aid in the 
displacement by making a point oV appui upon the 
inferior extremity of the organ, which now occupies 
the superior position, in such a manner that the 
spermatic gland is placed parallel with the cord. 
The manipulations are completed by pushing the 
testicles upwards towards the inguinal ring, to break 



64 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 



up whatever adhesions of cellular tissue may re- 
main. This second step of the operation being com- 
pleted, the two organs are found to be so placed that 
they are parallel one with the other, the testicle be- 
ing posterior to the cord. 

The third step, or that of the torsion of the cord, 
now presents itself to our notW:- To effect this, the 

Fig. 19, 




DOUBLE SUBCUTANEOUS TOKSION IN CATTLE. 

Third step. Position of the hands when th'^ torsion is about 
being made. 

testicle must be firmly held at the bottom of the en- 
velopes (Fig. 19), the left hand placed forward upon 
the cord, and the right behind and upon the testicle. 
The operator then gives to the organ a twist with 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 65 

the right hand by a motion of rotation from left to 
right and from without .inwards, while with the other 
be draws upon the cord in the opposite direction. 
The result of this manipulation is to give to the 
gland half a turn around the cord (Fig. 20), which 

Fig. 20. 




DOUBLE SUBCUTANEOUS TORSION IN CATTLE. 

Third step. Position of the hands during the torsion, 
thus becomes displaced and takes a posterior position. 
By a change in the action of the hands, but a repeti- 
tion of the same movement, the right hand now act- 
ing on the cord, while the left is applied to the tes- 
ticle, the remaining portion of the motion of rotation 
is performed, and a complete torsion of the spermatic 
support accomplished. By repeating this action, of 
course as many turns of the cord as may be thought 



66 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

necessary, can be secured, two, however, being gen- 
erally found sufficient, although, in a few instances 
as many as four or five may be required. — never more 
than that. The length of the cord is the principal 
controlling circumstance. When these several steps 
have been conrpleted with one testicle, their repeti- 
tion is, of course, in order with the other. And 
when both have been treated, the consummation 
of the operation is called for by entering upon the 
fourth step, or that of the application of the 
ligature. 

To accomplish this both testicles are firmly seized 

Fig. 21. 




DOUBLE SUBCUTANEOUS TOESION IN CATTLE. 

Position of the testicles and ligature en masse of the bags 
when the operation is finished. 



ANIMAL CASTBATION. 67 

with, both hands, and pressed upwards as far as pos- 
sible against the inguinal ring (Fig. 21). lb is neces- 
sary to be very careful to ascertain that they rest on 
the same level, in order to be secure against the 
possibility of untwisting. The ligature is then ap- 
plied by passing three or four turns of it around the 
scrotal envelopes, immediately below the testicles, 
with not more than a sufficient degree of tightness 
to assure it against slipping off. 

The symptoms which succeed the operation are not 
commonly of a very serious nature, and subside 
within a period of time varying from two to six 
hours. Following the operation an inflammatory 
swelling takes place in the bags, and after one or 
two days assumes large dimensions. The ligature 
can now be removed, and the animal left to himself, 
without further treatment, the testicles undergoing 
a slow process of atrophy readily recognized by their 
appearance and the position they always thereafter 
occupy in the vaginal sac. 

CASTEATION OF MALES OF SMALL ANIMALS. 

Boars are castrated between the age of six weeks 
and two months. When operated at this later age, 
their lard is more firm and consistent. Those that 
are kept for breeding are operated when two or three 
years old, and even kvfcer. 

The methods used are simple excision, sometimes 
made more complete with torsion. For old animals 
ligature or clamps are resorted to. The modus 



68 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

operandi is similar to those used for the other species 
of animals. 

Dogs are castrated by excision, torsion or ligature, 
according to the age. After the operation, it is said 
by some that the dog becomes lazy and has a great 
tendency to fatten : other operators deny these dis- 
advantages. 

Gats are operated by simple excision. The opera- 
tion makes them more domestic in their habits; they 
grow fat, their coat gets thicker and more silky; their 
dejections lose the strong and repulsive odor which 
makes tom-cats so disagreeable. 

Castration of Babbits gives excellent results : the 
animal gets on fat easily, his fur becomes thicker, his 
meat more tender and delicate. The operation is 
done by simple excision with scissors when the ani- 
mal is three months old. Hernia, often fatal, is a 
common occurrence, if too much traction is applied 
on the cord. 

The animal properly secured and the testicular 
region well exposed and disinfected, the testicles 
are uncovered by a simple incision and removed 
by torsion, tearing or simple excision. 

Hemorrhage may follow, but without serious 
results. I have seen one case of champignon follow- 
ing the amputation of the testicle by tearing. 

CASTRATION OF CRTPTORCHIDS. 

The abnormal development of animals in which 
the testicles have failed to make their appearance 
by descending through the inguiual canal into the 
bags, is quite commonly met with in solipeds, the 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 69 

animal being then known by the designation of 
ridglings or originals. The position assumed by the 
organ in relation to its normal situation being so 
altered that it may be found either partly engaged 
in the inguinal canal (Fig. 22), or only remaining 
close to its superior opening (Fig. 23), is one of these 
fnequalities constituting what is called inguinal 
cryptorchidy; another being when it remains floating 
in or adherent to some parts of the abdominal 
cavity— a condition known as abdominal cryptor- 
chidy (Fig. 24). 

Whether inguinal or abdominal, the ectopia is 
either single when one testicle only is abnormally 
situated (monorchidy), or again double when both 
organs are in abnormal condition ; this is cryptor- 
chidy proper and may be abdominal on one side and 
inguinal on the other. 

As this condition has usually a peculiar effect 
on the temper of the animal so affected, often 
rendering him unfit for general use, it necessitates, 
on that account, the act of castration, with some 
changes in the manipulations described for the ope- 
ration upon animals exempt from such an infirmity. 
In these cases the operation presents more difficul- 
ties, and is of a more serious character than the 
former, demanding on the part of the operator all 
the skill and knowledge which can be acquired from 
its frequent performance and extensive study. That 
the operation is one which is largely performed on 
the Continent there is no doubt, and many European 
operators have made for themselves an extensive 
reputation in connection with it. Among these the 



Fig. 22. 
testicle engaged in the inguinal ring. 




B— Testicle. C— Gubernaculum testis. D— Inguinal ring. 

(70) 



Fig. 2B. 




TESTICLE CLOSE TO THE RING. 

C— Internal portion of the gubernaculum testis. 

C — Its external portion. 

B— Testicle. 

D~ Inguinal ring. 



Fig. 24. 




TESTICLE FLOATING IN THE ABDOMEN. 

A — Peritoneal ligament attached to the lumbar region. 
B— Testicle. 

C — Gubernaculum testis. 
D — Inguinal ring. 
(73) 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 73 

names of Professor Degive, of the Brussels school, 
and Professor Cadiot, of Alfort, merit mention. 

But there is probably, on this Continent at least, 
no better accredited authority, in this branch of 
surgery, than a gentleman — a layman — of Illinois, 
known very widely as "Farmer Miles," who has for 
many years not only sustained an eminent repute in 
his specialty as a gelder, but, I believe, has devoted 
a large share of study especially to the castration of 
ridglings. He has not only traversed large portions 
of the United States in the practice of this interest- 
ing branch of veterinary surgery, but has likewise 
achieved much renown and appreciative criticism 
from foreign sources, having travelled extensively 
in various European countries, and earned much 
honor from those who have watched his methods 
and received ocular proof of his dexterity and 
success within the sphere of his special field of 
usefulness. 

CRYPTOKCHIDY IN HOESES. 

In most cases, the ectopia is unilateral. Hering 
and Franck, from a small number of cases recorded, 
have thought that it was more common on the right 
than on the left side; for Stockfelt, Mauri and Labat, 
they are about equally divided. By some others it 
is considered more frequent on the left than the 
right. 

Whatever is the kind of ectopia, the results are 
about the same in all cases. The testicle is arrested 
in its growth and keeps the character it had in foetal 
condition : small, flabby, soft, it is made of greyish 



74 ANIMAL CASTKATTON. 

or rosy tissue, ordinarily containing no spermato- 
zoids. Sometimes it is rudimentary, atrophied, 
scarcely recognizable ; however, in some instances it 
has been seen with the dimensions of the ordinary 
testicle. 

Like all glands in abnormal position, the testicle 
in ectopia is subject to neoplastic degeneration. 
Sometimes it is very large, deformed by one or 
several cysts, whose contents vary; it may give to 
the hand the sensation of a double testicle, when one 
of these cysts has become pedunculated; exceptionally 
cartilaginous or bony little masses have been found 
in them ; sometimes sarcomatous or carcinomatous 
degeneration is presented, and the testicle assumes 
enormous dimensions. Quite frequently also the 
organ contains sclerostomas which have hollowed its 
walls. 

Generally the diagnosis of cryptorchidy is easy. 
The noisy manifestations of the animal thus affected 
and the absence of the mass formed by essential 
organs of males indicate the trouble. In exploring 
the inguinal region, if the horse is a ridgling, the 
testicle or the cicatrix of castration is absent. "With 
monorchids, one side shows the bag empty and 
without any mark, while on the other the testicle is 
there, or, if it has been removed, a cicatricial depres- 
sion situated near the median line is found. 

On the side of the ectopic gland, sometimes a 
linear, not depressed, cicatrix is found ; this comes 
from an incision made to deceive and to make believe 
that the animal has been castrated. But when the 
testicle has been excised, the cicatrix is almost 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 75 

always depressed, infundibuliform and contracted 
on its edges ; and besides this, by manipulations of 
the hand, near the inguinal ring and towards the 
median line, it is easy to feel the stump of the 
spermatic cord and trace it well up in the inguinal 
ring where it enters. When castration is shammed, 
these signs are missing ; there is only a superficial 
cicatrix or a small fibrous spot continuous deeply 
with one or several small brands of similar nature, 
running in different directions. In some doubtful 
cases, the following manner to examine is recom- 
mended : the hand, introduced in the rectum, is 
directed towards the superior inguinal ring ; as this 
spot is reached, the pulp of the fingers is laid over it 
and an assistant is asked to pull on the scrotum 
below the corresponding inferior inguinal ring by 
taking hold of the suspicious cicatrix or the parts 
surrounding it ; if the testicle has been removed, the 
cord will be felt sliding up and down with each pull 
of the assistant; if the horse has inguinal monor- 
chidy, the cord remains immovable. 

Cryptorchidy recognized, the question is whether 
it is inguinal or abdominal. If the former, the hand, 
with the fingers brought together in cone and pushed 
in the external inguinal ring and the inferior part of 
the canal, feels the testicle quite often through the 
scrotum and the dartos. Introduced in the rectum 
and feeling towards the prepubic region, the hand 
will, on the corresponding side, find the cord passing 
through the ring. When the horse is secured in 
decubital position and the hind leg, free from 
the hobble, has been carried in abduction, the testicle 



76 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

will sometimes appear bulging under the skin, near 
the inferior inguinal ring and showing a character- 
istic swelling which is not detected while the animal 
is standing. 

Abdominal cryptorchidy is recognized by the absence 
of the testicle in the inguinal canal, the non-existence 
of the vaginal sac or the small size of its superior 
opening and of the internal inguinal ring, and it will 
be principally made out by the intra-abdominal feel- 
ing of the organ. The researches to discover it may 
fail on account of its many varying situations and of 
its small size in many individuals. Degive recom- 
mends the exploration of the lateral wall of the 
abdomen on the ectopic side, through the rectum and 
over the lumbar region near the median line. To the 
touch the gland feels as a small, soft, ovoid and 
movable body. 

CASTRATION. 

The preparation of the subject demands only very 
simple attention. For six or eight days, he will be 
submitted to severe diet or fed exclusively on 
mashes, to which will be added daily small doses of 
sulfate of soda to stimulate intestinal actions. This 
is very important to facilitate the execution of intra- 
abdominal manipulations. When the intestines are 
empty, the testicle is almost always easily found. 

The animal will receive no food the day of 
the operation or even the day before. Previous to 
being cast, cold rectal injections and a short exercise 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 77 

will be given to promote defecation and empty the 
rectum. 

ABDOMINAL CRYPTORCHIDY. 

Four methods have been recommended for the 
operation, which allow the discovery of the testicle 
and its excision : 1st, through the flank ; 2d, in pas- 
sing through the abdominal wall at the lower part of 
the inguinal canal; 3rd, in pushing through this 
canal in its entire length ; 4th, through an incision 
made in the inferior abdominal wall, between the 
inguinal ring and the sheath. They are known as 
the old method, the Danish method, the Belgian and 
that of Gunther. We believe the modus operandi of 
Farmer Miles is very similar to that of Degive. 

CASTRATION THROUGH THE FLANK. 

This method consists in performing laparotomy on 
the superior part of the flank, bringing the testicle 
outwards with the hand introduced in the peritoneal 
cavity and removing it with the ecraseur or by simple 
amputation after ligature of the cord. 

This method is used but little, although by the 
application of the strictest antisepsy it has given 
excellent results in the hands of several German 
operators. It might be advantageously resorted to 
in double ectopia, when both testicles could be 
removed through one single incision. 

CASTRATION BY THE INGUINAL REGION. 

Anatomy. — The inguinal region is formed by the 



78 AHQCAL CASTRATION. 

postero-lateral wall of the abdomen resting on the 
internal face of the thigh. Externally it is bound : on 
the inside by the prepubic region : on the outside by 
the stifle and the haunch ; in front by the inferior 
abdominal region ; behind by the flat of the thigh. 
Deeply, it is limited : inside, by the prepubic tendon 
of the abdominal muscles and the lateral margin of 
the pelvis ; upwards, by the sub-lumbar region ; out- 
wards, by the external angle of the ilium. 

In this region there is found normally in males a 
canal which receives the spermatic cord, the inguinal 
canal, which opens in the abdomen by a narrow ori- 
fice, the superior inguinal ring. Its lower opening or 
inferior inguinal ring is found in the fold of the groin, 
above the testicle (Fig. A). 

In ridglings, the inferior inguinal ring is felt almost 
as readily as in subjects whose testicles are down; 
but the canal which ought to continue it is wanting ; 
the inguinal space is completely rilled with connec- 
tive tissue. In inguinal and complete cryptorchidy, 
a blind canal has been made in the inguinal space by 
the testicle partly down, by the epididymis or the 
efferent duct ; this blind canal opens in the abdomen 
by a narrow orifice (the superior inguinal ring) and 
ends inferiorly in a cul-de-sac: its bottom is separated 
from the inferior inguinal ring by a coat of con- 
nective tissue of varying thickness. (Fig. B.) 

Considered in relation to the superposition of the 
layers that form it, the inguinal ring presents a con- 
dition similar to that of the abdominal walls; but 
the direction of the deep layers gives it a very pecu- 



ANIMAL CASTRATION 



79 



liar disposition. These layers, from outwards in- 
wards, are : 1st, the skin; 2nd, the dartos; 3rd, sub 
dartoic connective tissue; 4th, great oblique of the 
abdomen (aponeurotic portion); 5th, small oblique of 
Fig. A. 




Section of the walls of the left inguinal space, made according 
to a line passing from the inferior inguinal, ring to the 
external angle of the ilium. Internal portion : PA, skin; 
CD, dartos; FSD, subdartoic connective fascia; AGO, 
aponeurosis of the great oblique of the abdomen; LA, 
anterior border of the inferior inguinal ring; LP, posterior 
border of the same; II, inguinal canal; PO, small oblique 
muscle; AT, aponeurosis of the transverse muscle; P, 
peritoneum; ARC, crural arch; APC, crural aponeurosis; 
AI, external angle of the ilium; AVD, section of muscles 
covered by the crural arch, 



80 ANIMAL CASTKATIONo 

the abdomen (muscles and aponeurosis); 6th, trans- 



Fig. B. 




X 



I 






^%k*£ 



Prepubic and inguinal regions seen by their inferior face. — 
Figure showing on each side of the median line, the 
inferior inguinal ring and the entrance of the inguinal 
space. — CI, internal commisure of that ring; CE, the ex- 
ternal; LI, its internal border; LE, the external; PO, 
small oblique muscle of the abdomen; TA, common tendon 
of the abdominal muscles; CP, section of the penis; LM, 
median line. 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 



81 



verse of the abdomen (aponeurosis); 7th, sub peri- 
toneal connective layer ; 8th, peritoneum. (Fig. C.) 

Fig. C. 




€£b 



W J^^ r 



Vertical and transverse section of the posterior abdominal 
region showing the superior insertion and disposition of 
the small oblique, seen by its internal face. The peri- 
toneum, sub-peritoneal coat and transverse muscle are 
removed.— PO, small oblique muscle; BPO, its posterior 
border; C, superior part of the cremaster; GD, great 
straight; AI, dotted line at the spot where, in operation 
for abdominal cryptorchidy (Belgian method), the hand 
is to reach the peritoneum; B, pelvis; V, bladder; R, 
section of the rectum. 



S'2 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

Inguinal tract or space. — It is the space between the 
small oblique and the crural arch; oblique from up- 
wards downwards, outwards inwards and from for- 
wards backwards, it presents for consideration two 
walls, two commissures, one entrance, one bottom or 
summit. 

The anterior ivall or antero-internal is formed by 
the small oblique muscle, which is gradually dimin- 
ishing in thickness towards the median line and the 
internal commissure. The posterior or postero- 
external wall is formed by the crural arch, which is 
quite thick inferiorly and towards the external com- 
missure ; it is thin towards its superior border, 
which mingles with the lumbo-iliac aponeurosis. 

The external commissure, oblique downwards, back- 
wards and inwards, is formed by the union of the 
muscle with the crural arch. On its entire length, 
these two parts are adherent a little more than in the 
tract itself, but this is no better defined outwards ; 
this commissure can readily be forced through with 
the fingers and the muscle isolated over a wider 
surface from the aponeurosis which covers it. The 
internal commissure is formed by the same parts ' 
towards the inferior inguinal ring, by the union and 
weak adhesion of the aponeurosis of the small 
oblique to the arch ; higher up, by that of the pos- 
terior border of the muscle to the superior of the 
arch. Bent from upwards downwards and from out- 
wards inwards, following a line running from the ilial 
insertion of the small oblique to the prepubic tendon, 
this commissure is still less resisting than the 



ANIMAL CASTEATION. 83 

external, and when the perforation of the inguinal 
space (Belgian method) is badly made, at the moment 
the ringers are pressing against it, it tears easily in 
its entire height. 

The entrance of the inguinal space is represented by 
the inferior or external inguinal ring. Oval in form, 
with its long diameter oblique backwards and in- 
wards, it is essentially formed by two fasciculi of 
fibres belonging to the great oblique muscle, which, 
contiguous first, become isolated from each other and 
form two curved edges surrounding the opening. 
This entrance has two borders, lips or pillars, and 
two angles or commissures. The antero-internal 
border is deeply lined by the small oblique, whose 
fibres reflect at this point, to become more horizontal. 
The postero-external border is formed exclusively 
by a portion of the aponeurosis of the great oblique, 
continued immediately upwards by the crural arch 
and downwards by the crural aponeurosis. 

The anterior or external commissure, more or less 
resisting according to subjects, is formed by the 
diverging fibres of the great oblique reinforced by a 
few arciform fibres. The posterior or internal com- 
missure corresponds to the tendon of the abdominal 
muscles and the anterior border of the pubis. 

The bottom or summit of the inguinal tract is 
formed by the union of the two commissures. It is 
bound by the line of insertion of the deep fibres of 
the small oblique on the ilial portion of the crural 
aponeurosis. The summit of the inguinal tract — 
that is to say, the region where the peritoneum is to 



84 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

be attacked in the Belgian method — is situated far 
above the point where normally the superior inguinal 
ring exists (Fig. C). While this last is but 8 or 10 
centimeters from the median line, the summit of the 
inguinal tract is 15 to 20. 

DANISH METHOD. 

This method consists in entering the abdomen 
through the abdominal wall, in the vicinity of the 
inferior inguinal ring, or again through the small 
oblique at the entrance of the inguinal space and 
excising the testicle through that opening. Modified 
by Cadiot, he considers it as the best method. 

Securing of the Animal — Preparation — Instruments. 
— The animal is cast on the side opposite to that of 
the ectopia. The superior hind leg may be pulled 
forward and secured on the shoulder as in castration, 
or, better, be carried in abduction as in Fig. D. 

Most authors advocate the uce of anasthesia. 
Some consider it superfluous or even as having more 
objections than advantages. Without being indis- 
pensable, it is useful, especially in nervous animals. 
Asepsis of the operated field, of the operator and of 
the instruments are of absolute necessity. The 
sheath should be disinfected; the inguinal region 
soaped and carefully washed with phenic solution or 
one of sublimate or cresyl. The superior sections of 
the hind legs, more particularly the internal face of 
the thigh and the surroundings of the inguinal 
region, should be sprinkled with antiseptic liquid, so 
as to avoid soiling the wound with dust or hair. The 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 85 

foot of the displaced hind leg should be wrapped up 
Fig. D. 






'^ 



y 



Castration of cryptorch id.— First step : incision of the layers 
covering the inferior inguinal ring. 



86 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

with cloth dipped in antiseptic solution. The in- 
struments and objects necessary are : a convex bis- 
toury, few hemostatic forceps, a perforator, an 
ecraseur, cotton, gauze and needle with handle, silk 
and thread. 

Modus operandi. — It consists of five steps. 

First Step. — Incision of the Scrotum and Dartos, Dis- 
section of the Subdartoic Layer, The direction of the 
first incision is indicated by the great axis of the 
inguinal ring, whose outlines are readily detected. 
With the bistoury, the skin and dartos are divided 
from forward backward, 15 centimeters in length. 
The subdartoic connective fascia being reached, a 
narrow incision is made through it about opposite 
the center of the inguinal ring; through this incision 
the thumbs are introduced, with their dorsal face 
opposed, and by drawing them apart the opening is 
enlarged. The fascia can also be cut with the 
bistoury, layer by layer, in the same direction as the 
skin has been. In either way, the external inguinal 
ring is exposed and also the lower portion of the 
inguinal space of which it is the entrance. If there 
is much hemorrhage, it is arrested by ligatures or 
forceps. 

Lacerate the connective tissue in the lower part of 
the inguinal space ; introduce into it, towards the 
bottom and a little outwards, the extended medium 
and index fingers ; feel if the ectopia is inguinal or 
not. 

Second Step. — Perforation of the Abdominal Wall. 
This must be made on the anterior wall of the 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 



87 



Fig. E. 




inguinal canal, through the muscular portion of the 
small oblique, near the posterior 
border and as far as possible from 
the median line. It is advantageous 
to enlarge the inferior inguinal ring 
by making outward an incision, 5 or 
10 centimeters long, on its aponeu- 
rotic coat, so as to expose the re- 
gion where the small oblique has a 
thick layer. The abdominal wall 
may be perforated, with the index 
and medium fingers brought together 
or with a thin, blunt metallic per- 
forator (Fig. E). 

Towards the end of an inspiration 
from the animal, when the abdominal 
wall is raised, apply perpendicularly 
upon it, in the direction of the mus- 
cular fibres, the fingers or tho blade 
of the instrument and push them 
through it with sudden pressure. 
Generally, at the first effort, the 
muscle, aponeurosis and peritoneum 
are divided ; sometimes, however, 
the serous membrane resists and a 
second push is necessary to complete 
the perforation. If this has been 
properly executed, the solution of 
continuity is narrow and regular ; it 
is a simple slit by separation of the muscular fibres. 

Third Step* — Searching the Testicle. — Through this 




Perforatoi 



88 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

opening the index and medium fingers are intro- 
duced into the abdomen to explore the surrounding 
parts, where the testicle, epididymis or cord may be 
immediately found. Feeling backwards, the depres- 
sion is detected which exists on the level of the 
superior inguinal ring and also the serous band 
which from there goes to the suspensory ligament of 
the testicle, and which at its inferior border is 
reinforced by the gubernaculum cistis. If after a 
few moments of exploration nothing is discovered, 
an assistant is called to introduce his hand in the 
rectum, as far as the pre pubic region, to assist in the 
exploration by pushing towards the wound the 
organs that he successively feels. When the animal 
has been prepared by long diet, it is rare if by this 
manipulation the result is not reached and the 
testicle, epididymis or cord discovered. It will be 
better to take hold of the epididymis, bring it 
towards the incision and by careful pulling draw the 
testicle. In cases where digital exploration is insuf- 
ficient, the animal being chloroformed, the opening 
can be enlarged in the direction of the hip and of 
the muscular fibres, where the whole hand can be 
introduced in the abdomen ; thus made, the wound 
will be quite extensive in length, but if the first 
directions have been followed, there is but little 
danger of protrusion of the intestine. Sometimes 
the hand has to displace the organs that come in the 
way and must here and there feel the intestinal 
mass, among the circumvolutions where the testicle 
may be held back. Another way to reach the gland 



ANIMAL CASTIiATION. 89 

Is to carry the hand towards the bladder, lake hold 
Fig. F, 




Castration of cryptorchid.— The inferior inguinal ring has been 
enlarged by incision of the external commisure. The third 
step is finished. PO, small oblique; CI, internal com- 
missure of the inguinal canal. 

of the efferent canal and trace it from backwards for- 



90 



ANIMAL CASTBATION. 




ward to the epididymis. Tlie gu- 
bernaculum may also serve as a 
guide, but it is harder to detect 
than the cord. 

In the very rare cases where the 
testicle is held by peritoneal ad- 
hesions, it must be loosened with 
the ringers. In those not less un- 
common, where, having undergone 
cystic dege Deration, it has acquired 
large dimensions, the testicle is 
drawn near the peritoneal open- 
ing, punctured with a fine trocar 
and then extracted. 

Fourth Step. — Ablation of the Tes- 
ticle. — Excise the organ slowly 
with the ecraseur, after placing 
an hemostatic clamp above the 
point of section. If there is dan- 
ger that the stump has been in- 
fected or soiled in any way, have 
it purified before returning it in 
the abdomen (Fig. F). 

Fifth Step. — Suture of the Mus- 
cular Wound. — If only a narrow 
perforation has been made through 
the small oblique, suture is not 
necessary ; still it is better to close 
it with a mounted curved needle 
Fig. G.-Needle for rpis. G). One or two stitches are 
applied. 



. 



the suture of the 
muscular wound. 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 91 

Dressing. — Wash the cutaneous wound, dust it with 
iodoform, sew it with three interrupted sutures. 
Drain tubes are used by some. Cadiot resorts to 
antiseptic gauze only. 

BELGIAN METHOD. 

Instruments. — A bistoury, an ecraseur, hemostatic 
forceps, cotton, gauze, needle and thread. 

The operation, well described by Degive, is made 
in four steps. 

First Step. — Incision of the Skin, Dartoic Coat and 
Connective Tissue Underneath. — This is done as in the 
preceding Danish method. 

Second Step. — Hollowing the Inguinal Tract and Per- 
foration of the Peritoneum. — This is the dangerous 
step of the operation. It can be executed with either 
hand, although it is better and safer to use that cor- 
responding to the side of the concealed testicle, the 
right hand for the right organ, the left for the other. 
With the fingers closed together, cone-like, the hand 
is carried towards the entrance of the tract, by the 
external ring, the cubital border of the hand resting 
on the pubic commissure and the extremity of the 
fingers in contact with the crural arch. The way the 
hand has to follow is all indicated : outwards and 
straight towards the lumbar region or slightly back 
of it. The external angle of the ilium being taken 
as guide, with "moderate force" the hand is jDushed 
in the canal, the fingers always on the crural arch ; 
progressing slowly with semi-rotatory motion, with 
slight opening of the fingers and avoiding injury to 



92 AKOtAL CASTRATION. 

the internal commissure, the hand gradually goes up 
and finally, without difficulty, succeds in isolating 
the small oblique from the crural arch ; when it has 
reached the bottom of the canal, it separates the 
arch from the posterior border of the muscle ; then 
it reaches the peritoneum, through which it may 
detect the intestinal circumvolutions. What remains 
to do is to perforate the peritoneum. Generally it 
is done quite easily by a sudden push of the extremity 
of the index finger alone or with it the medium ; 
sometimes it has to be torn with the nails. If blood 
collects in the canal, it must be removed with aseptic 
pads. 

Snch are the manipulations of this delicate step ; 
when well done, they allow a peritoneal opening to 
be made high enough to avoid all danger of eventra- 
tion. When the hand has followed the proper way, 
it reaches the peritoneum not far from the lumbar 
region, near the terminal tendon of the small psoas 
and the external iliac artery, or more outwards, near 
the middle of the external border of the psoas iliacust 
it must reach it almost on a level with the superior 
insertion of the long adductor of the leg on the 
lumbo-iliac aponeurosis, close to the margin of the 
pelvis, between the tendons of the small psoas and 
the middle of the inferior face of the psoas iliacus ; 
the serous is perforated at such a height that the 
intestines have no tendency to escape. When the 
animal is up, the pressure made upon the abdominal 
has for effect to push the small oblique close to the 
crural arch, to reduce the size of the tunnel made in 



ANIMAL CASTEATION. 93 

the inguinal space and to close hermetically the 
peritoneal opening. 

Third Step. — Searching and Exit of the Testicle. — The 
peritoneum being open on the proper place, the three 
middle fingers, or only the index and medium, are 
introduced in the opening and begin to explore. In 
most cases, the testicle is in front and below tho 
opening, not far from the ascending branch of tho 
ilium. Barely the gland itself is reached % more 
commonly it is the epididymis or the inferior border 
of the suspensory ligament. Whatever is found, it 
is drawn into the tract. 

In some horses, the searching of the gland is very 
difficult. Exploration is made with the ringers in all 
directions and nothing but the intestinal circumvolu- 
tions are found. Then the peritoneal opening must be 
enlarged to allow the introduction of the whole hand, 
which is successively carried towards the median line 
and the entrance of tho pelvis or passed over the 
abdominal wall from inwards outwards. During the 
struggles of the animal, great care must be taken not 
to push with the fist or forearm too hard on the 
internal border of the perforation, as the commissure 
might tear easily and the opening assume dangerous 
proportions. Disturbed by the intestinal circumvolu- 
tions that must be displaced or pushed back, the 
hand soon gets tired; a little rest must be taken, 
with the hand still kept in the abdomen, or some- 
times it may be carefully withrawn and the operation 
resumed after a little while. 

But, as in the Danish method, instead of carrying 



94 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

the tired hand in all directions, it is better when it is 
possible to resort to an assistant to explore by rectum 
the prepubic region and push the organ towards the 
hand of the operator. This help of the assistant has 
not been sufficiently resorted to, for in many instan- 
ces it would have saved the necessity of introducing 
the whole hand in the abdomen. 

When the testicle is small, it is always easy to 
push it through the peritoneal opening and draw it 
towards the inferior inguinal ring. If the epididymis 
is first entered into the canal, by pulling on it, the 
testicle will soon follow. Likewise, if it is the cord. 
There is some difficulty only when the gland is large. 
In this case, its entrance in the canal is not without 
danger ; if it is drawn only by simple pulling, the 
intestines might follow after it and pass through the 
widely open orifice. To avoid this accident, one 
must proceed as follows : while the hand is still 
three-quarter engaged in the abdomen, with its 
dorsal face gently raising the small oblique, the tes- 
ticle, being previously brought to the edges of the 
opening, is squeezed in the bottom of the hand by 
flexion of the fingers, while the body of the hand 
remains watching and stops the intestines. Once 
the gland in the canal, the fingers are spread 
open gently and carefully withdrawn, moving to- 
wards the crural arch; those manipulations have 
for results to allow the small oblique to come in 
contact with the crural arch and close the opening 
of the case. 

In case the great size of the testicle shoud be due 



ANIMAL CASTEATION. 95 

to a cyst, it will be brought down or punctured as 
already described. 

Fourth Step. — Ablation. — This is done with the 
ecraseur, by torsion or by excision after ligature. 
Very generally the testicle can be drawn to the infe- 
rior inguinal ring; in some subjects the length of the 
cord is such that the testicle can be pulled down as 
low as the leg ; in others this section has to be made 
within the tract. The ecraseur is ordinarily used, 
the amputation being made slowly and a little above 
the epididymis. 

Dressing. — The wound is washed with antiseptic 
care and irrigated with solution of sublimate. 

When it is certain that the abdomen has been 
opened sufficiently high so that the inguinal tract is 
tightly closed at its apex, no dressing or suture need 
be applied. Simply cleaning the wound, irrigating 
with sublimate solution, dusting with iodoform, are 
only necessary. However, to avoid infection, a tem- 
porary cutaneous suture is indicated. 

If there is danger of intestinal protrusion, a plug 
of aseptic gauze is introduced in the inguinal canal, 
pushed not too high up to prevent the adaptation of 
the muscle with the crural arch ; and the cutaneous 
wound is closed with interrupted sutures. If some 
errors of manipulation have occurred during the 
operation, the plug of gauze left in for 24 or 30 hours 
may prevent complications. 

In either the Danish or Belgian method it is not 
prudent to operate a double case of cryptorchidy at 
one sitting. It is better to leave a space of fifteen 



96 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

days elapse between the two operations. However, 
some operators have operated on both sides on the 
same day. 

CASTRATION BY THE PREPUBIC REGION. 

In this method, the incision is made on the inferior 
wall of the abdomen a little in front of the pubis and 
of the inferior inguinal ring, near the sheath. 

In that region the abdominal wall, from 2 to 5 
centimeters thick, according to size and condition of 
the subject, is formed by the skin, dartoic layers with 
adipose and connective tissues, abdominal tunic, 
great straight of the abdomen, aponeurosis of the 
two obliques and transverse muscles, the sub-peri- 
toneal aponeurosis and the peritoneum. 

The animal can be secured as in the other methods. 
But Gnnther says the dorsal position is the best. 
The prepubic region and the sheath are cleansed and 
disinfected. The skin is shaved. The animal is 
chloroformed if he is not placed in dorsal position. 

Modus operandi. — Four steps. 

First Step. — Incision of the Superficial and Perfora- 
tion of the Deep Layers of the Abdominal Wall. — An 
incision, involving the skin, subcutaneous connective 
tissue, abdominal tunic and superficial layer of the 
great straight, is made a little forward of the pubis, 
on the side of the sheath, 5 or 6 centimeters from 
the median line and 10 centimeters long. Then with 
the index and medium fingers the deep layers of the 
muscles, the aponeurosis, the fascia underneath and 
the peritoneum are perforated. 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 9? 

Second Step. — Searching and Exit of the Testicle. — 
The hand, introduced through the wound, is carried 
towards the entrance of the pelvic cavity, where 
ordinarily it comes in contact with some part of the 
testicular apparatus, gland, epididymis, efferent canal 
or suspensory ligament. If one of these organs is 
not found, the hand is passed over the bladder, where 
it meets with the efferent canal, and by tracing it from 
backwards forwards it arrives at the epididymis or 
testicle. It is then brought out as in the other 
methods. 

Third Step. — Excision is made by section after 
ligature, torsion or the e'craseur. The stump is 
pushed back in the abdomen. 

Fourth Step. — The wound is closed by sutures, 
the edges of the straight muscle with silk first, the 
skin after. 

This method permits the removal of the two tes- 
ticles at one sitting in case of double cryptorchidy. 
Notwithstanding the high authority of Gunther, this 
method is not practised as those by the inguinal 
region. 

INGUINAL CRYPTORCHIDY. 

In the -majority of cases, the removal of the testicle 
in inguinal ectopia is not much more complicated 
than in ordinary castration. 

Securing and preliminary cares are similar to those 
used in abdominal cryptorchidy as done by Danish 
or Belgian methods. 

Modus operandi. — This is divided into five steps. 



98 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

First Step. — Incision of the Skin and Dartos icith 
Laceration of the Sub-JDartoic Connective Layer. — This 
is done as in cases of abdominal abnormality. 

Second Step. — Separation cf the Testicular Envelopes. 
— The inguinal ring being exposed, the entrance of 
the inguinal tract is obtained by tearing the connec- 
tive tissue as in the second step of abdominal crypt- 
orchidy ; in the tract a small ovoid mass formed by 
the testicle will be found. Isolate it with the 
fingers (index and medium) flexed in hook shape by 
tearing the connective tissues which attach it to 
the inguinal canal ; use of the bistoury is seldom 
necessary. In cases where the testicle is held way 
up, the manipulations are the same. Work carefully 
to avoid injuries to the small oblique and to the 
internal commissure. 

Third Step. — Incision of the Envelopjts. — If the tes- 
ticle is at the lower part of the tract, steady it in 
position and with the point of a bistoury open the 
envelopes covering it, in following the great axis of the 
testicle. If it is situated high up, take hold of it and 
pull it down near the inguinal ring to enable you to 
incise the envelopes. If it resists, grasp it with a 
strong force and drag it by force. Sometimes it is 
necessary to resort to the bistoury quite deeply. 

Fourth Step. — Amputation of the Testicle. — The cord 
being exposed, the amputation is made with the 
ecraseur or by torsion, in applying the instruments 
immediately above the epididymis. Silk ligature is 
sometimes applied firmly upon the cord and simple 
amputation made immediately below it. 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 99 

The wound is washed with sublimate solution, 
iodoform dusted over it and the edges brought to- 
gether by sutures. 

AFTER CARES— POST OPERATOR! PHENOMENA 

The animal, lightly blanketed or kept comfortably 
warm according to season, is turned loose in a box 
or kept tied up in his stall for 24 or 4S hours. On 
the next day already he may receive his ordinary 
diet. Sometimes half ration only is given for a few 
days. In tine weather he can be turned out. The 
hair of the tail ought to be braided and the tail tied 
on one side to the surcingle. 

When a dressing has been applied, it is generally 
removed the next day or the second day and the 
wound is treated antiseptically. 

If perfect asepsy has been realized, the traumatic 
inflammation remains moderate, there is little febrile 
reaction, cicatrization goes on almost without sup- 
puration : it is adhesive in the upper part of the 
inguinal canal or at the level of the perforation of 
the small oblique, according to the methods followed; 
in the lower part there are granulations. Still, cica- 
trization without pus or any febrile reaction has been 
obtained. 

If the animal is kept in the stable, it is proper 
towards the end of the first week to exercise him 
twice a day for 15 or 20 minutes. Work can be 
resumed towards the third week. In most cases 
recovery is completed in a month, 
LofC. 



lOO ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

CRYPTORCHIDY IN OTHER ANIMALS. 

Somewhat common in donkeys, this abnormal^ is 
rare in ruminants, swine and carnivora. It assumes 
the various forms met in horses. 

Cryptorchids of these various species are operated 
by one of the methods described above. With 
donkeys, the flank operation or the Danish method 
are the chosen modes ; with large ruminants, some 
operate by the flank, others prefer the inguinal 
methods ; with swine, incision is the proper way for 
many. It is evidently better to incise the median 
line as for spaying sows. 

EFFECTS FOLLOWING: THE OPERATION OF CASTRATION. 

These will vary more or less in extent and severity, 
according to the method employed in its perform- 
ance, and in any case they may be considered in two 
divisions : as primary or immediate, and secondary 
or consecutive. 

Amongst the first phenomena most commonly ob- 
served is, of course, a manifestation of pain, charac- 
terized by symptoms of colic, exhibited by the animal 
in a more or less marked degree, being the result of 
the unavoidable irritation arising from the manipula- 
tions practised upon the organs of generation, whose 
nerves rise from the sympathetic as well as from the 
cerebro-spinal nervous system; and from the pain 
excited in the spermatic cord by the pressure of the 
clamps, for example. These colicky pains, which 
are more severe under the bloodless method than in 



Animal castration. 101 

those of the other mode, usually subside after the 
first hour following the operation, and as a rule 
require but little treatment more than that of the 
walking exercise. This sort of pain having subsided, 
the only further trouble likely to be noticed is the 
local trouble resulting from the lesion to which the 
testicular region has been subjected. Resulting 
from this local lesion, as well as from the rough 
manipulations attending the various steps of the 
different procedures, a peculiar stiffness will be 
observed in the motion of the animal. This may be 
referred either to the local pain proper, to the 
dragging to which the cord has been subjected, or to 
the presence of the clamps, which, resting closely 
in the groin, necessarily more or less impede the 
action of locomotion. 

Hemorrhage may also occur immediately after the 
operation, either while the patient is still on the 
ground or as soon as he regains his feet. This may 
be due either to the solution of continuity at the 
edges of the wound of the envelopes or may proceed 
from the small testicular or the spermatic artery. 
The first two causes of hemorrhage need not engage 
our attention, usually ceasing spontaneously, and 
never being attended with serious inconvenience. 
It is not so, however, in the case of hemorrhage pro- 
ceeding from the spermatic blood vessel proper, 
occurring after those methods of operating which 
dispense with the closing of the artery by artificial 
appliances, as is done with the clamp or the ligature, 
or which may be observed in castration by torsion, 



102 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

cauterization, the rise of the eeraseur. or especially 
by the process of simple excision. Though not nec- 
essarily fatal, the hemorrhage in these instances 
may require prompt and effectual interference by the 
surgeon for its suppression. 

It is not rare for castrated animals to become more 
or less tympanitic, a condition which may be due, 
more or less, to the introduction of atmospheric 
air into the abdominal cavity during the per- 
formance of the operation. This condition of things 
is usually remedied by the unaided action of natural 
causes. 

The secondary effects also vary according to the 
manipulations of the method which they follow. The 
development of reactive fever is an event which in 
many cases requires close watching, and while it is 
true that many castrated horses will manifest no 
subsequent illness, even to the extent of a slight 
elevation of temperature, others, on the contrary, 
show unmistakable signs of a general inflammatory 
condition, and this is the more marked and definite 
as the condition of the wound has been left in a 
more or less complicated state. The presence of the 
ligature or of a portion of the cord which has yet to 
complete the sloughing action, following the method 
by cauterization and by the clamps, are sufficient to 
encourage the inflammatory tendency. 

MODES OP CICATRIZATION. 

The cicatrization of the wound of castration takes 
place in two ways, While the upper part heals by 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 103 

adhesive inflammation at and above the point where 
the amputation has been performed, it is below that 
point in a process of cicatrization by the second in- 
tention, the parts filling up by the development of 
granulations, and being accused by an abundant 
suppurative process. The first fact observed is that 
the parts become more or less swollen. The swell- 
ing is at first limited to the edges of the wound, but 
increases and spreads to the scrotum,, then to the 
sheath, or even extends forwards and backwards to 
the perineal region. A flow of serosity will be ob- 
served almost immediately following the operation, 
at first thin and yellowish, but will, before the second 
or third day, become thicker and more purulent in 
character, so progressing that after that period it 
will become a laudable, creamy pus, in evidence of 
the process going forward towards the establishment 
of sound and healthy cicatrization. This cicatriza- 
tion will proceed until the healing is complete — 
that is, for a period varying between thirty and 
forty days — the swelling slowly subsiding from 
the moment when the suppuration becomes estab- 
lished. 

In relation to the considerations on the modes 
of cicatrization, we must bear in mind that these can 
be considerably modified if the practitioner resorts 
to careful measures of disinfection. Aseptic castra- 
tion has always been the subject of close attention by 
many and the results that have been obtained justify 
the conclusions that : the aseptic operation is a prac- 
tical success in clinic, that it would be a practical 



104 ANIMAL CASTKATION. 

success in private practice ; that by aseptic methods 
the dangers of the operation are considerably 
reduced. (R. J. Stanclift, American Veterinary Re- 
vieiv, Yol. XXII, p. 249.) 

THE HYGIENE AND THE SUBSEQUENT ATTENTION. 

The moment the patient has risen from his bed 
and has been thoroughly cleansed from the blood 
that has soiled his legs, it becomes necessary, if the 
clamps have been used, to apply the necessary 
means to prevent their removal by the action of the 
tail. This is done by braiding the hair shortly, and 
sometimes tying it up on the side. Even when 
this is not necessary, from the clamps not having 
been used, it is better to have the tail tightened up 
short, in order, when the suppurative process is es- 
tablished, the more easily to preserve the cleanliness 
of that part of the body. It is recommended by 
some veterinarians, also, as soon as the animal is on 
his feet, to have him thoroughly rubbed and dried, 
lest, as is not uncommon, he should have perspired 
excessively during the operation. He may be 
warmly blanketed if he has been accustomed to a 
covering, or in any case, placed in a quiet stall and 
tied up. If quiet and unexcited, and exhibiting no 
immediate ill consequence of the operation, he may, 
after an interval, be allowed to go loose in a box 
stall. If there are any manifestations of pain, or 
colicky symptoms, walking exercise may be given. 
Quietness, protection from changes of the weather, 



Animal castkation. 105 

moderate diet, varying according to his condition, 
are included in the only general instructions that can 
be given. 

The wound simply requires, to be kept clean. 
Washing with cool water and soap when the dis- 
charge is well established, will fulfil this indication. 
The closing of the edges of the wound is to be care- 
fully prevented by the introduction of the finger be- 
tween them, care being taken to avoid the laceration 
of any points where union has already taken place 
in the upper part of the wound. 

It is not an unusual thing to find even these sim- 
ple measures of caution overlooked by gelders, some 
of them even recommending that the animal should, 
immediately after the operation, be violently exer- 
cised — even put in harness and made to draw a 
wagon. It is true that a little and gentle exercise 
may be beneficial, with a view to the removal of the 
soreness and pain of the newly castrated animal ; it 
must be admitted even that Professor Bouley recom- 
mends slow exercise to be carried to the extent of 
fatiguing the animal. But when we take into con- 
sideration how seriously some animals, at least, are 
affected by the operation, and the serious complica- 
tions which may follow it — even laying aside the hu- 
manitarian view of the question — we must neces- 
sarily conclude that such directions and such a 
practice is in violation of all the laws of true surgery, 
and even if justified by the strongest statistics, is 
condemned if confronted by a single fatal case. 



CHAPTEK V. 

COMPLICATIONS AND TREATMENT OF THE OPERATION — 
COLICS — TEARING OF THE CLAMPS — HEMORRHAGE 
— SWELLING OF THE SCROTAL REGION — GANGRENE 
— ABSCESSES — CHAMPIGNON — EXTRA SCROTAL — 
INTRA SCROTAL — INTRA ABDOMINAL — VARIOUS 
TREATMENTS — FISTULA OF THE SCROTUM — INGUINAL 
HERNIA— PERITONITIS — TETANUS — AMAUROSIS— COM- 
PARATIVE VIEW OF THE VARIOUS MODES OF CASTRA- 
TION. 

COMPLICATIONS AND THEIR TREATMENT. 

Though the operation of castration is compara- 
tively simple in its various methods and is generally 
successful in its results, still it is not entirely free 
from accidents or complications. Indeed, among 
those likely to meet our notice, there are some of 
quite a serious character, which will develop them- 
selves independently of the skill and care with which 
the operation may have been performed or whatso- 

(106) 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 107 

ever attention may have been bestowed upon the 
patient. Among these may be enumerated colics, 
hemorrhage, swelling of the scrotum, gangrene, abscesses, 
champignon, fistula, hernia, peritonitis, tetanus, and 
amaurosis. 

COLICS. 

This, we have already seen, usually appears a 
short time after the completion of the operation, 
the suffering animal becoming uneasy, restless in 
his stall, pawing the ground with his fore feet, and 
sometimes lying down and rolling. As I have be- 
fore stated, these symptoms, as a rule, are of short 
duration, and subside without other treatment than 
a little walking exercise. It is rarely the case that 
they fail to yield to an anodyne, or a dose of chloral 
may be demanded before the symptoms are subdued. 

TEARING OF THE CLAMPS. 

When this accident occurs it is commonly at- 
tributable to the omission of a careless operator 
to secure the tail of the animal in such a man- 
ner as to prevent its interference with those im- 
pliments by its entanglement, and tearing them 
from the end of the cord, as a consequence. The 
result of this is the appearance of a hemorrhage from 
the spermatic artery, which can only be controlled 
by either a reapplication of the clamps to the end of 
the cord — if it can be thus secured — or by other 
means, which will be considered when we reach the 



108 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

subject of bleeding in general as connected with 

other causes. 

HEMORRHAGE 

May be primary or secondary. In the first in- 
stance it occurs in consequence of the insufficiency 
of the means of heniostasis applied to the end 
of the cord, as in the case cf the operation by 
simple excision, by cauterization, the too rapid crush- 
ing of the cord, torsion, or the accident before re- 
ferred to — when the clamps have been torn off and 
the cord lacerated about the point of their applica- 
tion. 

Secondary hemorrhage manifests itself after a 
longer interval following the operation. It may 
occur, for example, after the removal of the clamps, 
or when, during their removal, the mortified end of 
the cord is too much interfered with by the sharp 
end of the instrument used in cutting the string 
which confines them together, or from too forcibly 
pulling upon the cord itseK ; and in some instances 
without any assignable cause other than a diseased 
condition of the coats of the artery. This secondary 
hemorrhage is usually, by reason of the inflamma- 
tory condition of the blood vessels, of more threaten- 
ing aspect and more difficult to control than the 
primary variety. The treatment indicated varies. 
"When caused by the tearing of the clamps, or at the 
time of their removal, it may be checked by the re- 
application of the instrument. But if the cord 
is retracted within the inguinal canal and cannot be 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 109 

Trashed, and if it is already adherent to the surround- 
ing tissues, by granulations recently formed, the 
checking of the flow may be very difficult. In many 
cases the application of cold water, either in the 
shape of the cold douche over the part, or iced 
sponges, may prove sufficient. But in other cases 
the cavity of the wound must be packed with balls 
of oakum, wet either with water alone or any styptic 
agent, such as a solution of perchloride of iron, the 
whole being kept in place by a suspensory bandage, 
or if necessary, a few points of suture. 

These measures may be put in practice while the 
animal is on his feet ; but if they fail in their effect, 
the surgeon must at once proceed to cast his patient 
and ligate the artery — an operation of delicate exe- 
cution, and not always easy to perform, by reason of 
the deep seated position of the vessel. The use of 
the actual cautery has also been recommended, but 
even when successful there are many objections to 
this, one of which is the complication such an opera- 
tion may bring on by the introduction into the wound 
of a scab which must necessitate for its expulsion a 
serious amount of inflammatory action. As a rule, 
however, the operation of packing is all that is re- 
quired, the oakum being left undisturbed for twenty- 
four or even thirty-six hours. Its removal must be 
undertaken with great caution. 

SWELLING OF THE SCROTAL REGION. 

This, as we have seen, is an almost necessary 
consequence of the operation, the swelling making 



HO ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

its appearance a short time after the alteration is 
accomplished. It usually first affects the parts 
immediately around the edges of the wound, 
and spreads forwards and upwards in such a 
manner that the entire scrotum and sheath be- 
come the seat of it. It is somewhat warm, tense, 
and slightly painful. If there is no increase beyond 
these limits, there is no occasion for alarm, as by 
exercise, fomentations, and scarifications, with the 
administration of diuretics, it ordinarily subsides. 
But if it continues to increase, and extends upwards 
and backwards, involving the inside of the thighs 
and the perineum, loses its character of heat and 
soreness, to become cold and painless, crepitating 
under pressure, we must prepare to encounter the 
most severe of all complications, that of gangrene, 
requiring the most prompt and vigorous treatment, 
as we shall presently see. It may also happen that 
even while retaining the characterises of healthy 
oedema, it may assume such dimensions that the 
penis becomes so involved that phymosis and para- 
phymosis may supervene^ to add to the other com- 
plications. These, however, are not serious sequela?, 
as by proper care, with fomentations or scarifica- 
tions, and the use of a suspensory bandage, they 
may be readily overcome. 

GANGRENE. 

This accident may be looked for from the 
fourth to the eighth day, manifesting itself not 
only by the extent which the cedema of the scrotal 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. HI 

region assumes, and by its characteristics of cold- 
ness, loss of sensibility, and crepitant feeling, but 
by the foetid odor proceeding from the wound, and 
by a change in the character, or the disappearance 
of the suppuration, which is succeeded by a sanious, 
bloody and offensive discharge. To this series of 
symptoms are to be added a marked increase of the 
general disturbance, manifested by increased thirst, 
anorexia, foetid mouth, change of color in the mucous 
membrane to a livid hue, increase of pulse, with 
weakening, increased respiration, temperature at first 
elevated and then diminished, and after five or six 
days a final termination in the death of the patient. 
The progress of this complication is so rapid, and 
the chances of recovery are so few, that the necessity 
for prompt treatment becomes at once obvious. All 
the diseased and mortified parts must be removed at 
once, and means instantly employed to prevent the 
absorption of gangrenous matter. Friction with am- 
moniacal and turpentine liniments must be used over 
the swelling; the parts must be subjected to the 
actual cautery at white heat, and disinfecting agents 
of all kinds must be freely used, as chloride of lime, 
carbolic acid, and permanganate of potash, while in- 
ternal treatment must immediately be instituted by 
the administration of stimulants and antiseptics in the 
form of ammonia and phenic acid, or its preparations. 

ABSCESSES. 

When these are likely to result from a too rapid 
closure of the edges of the scrotal envelope, the 



112 ANIMAL CASTEATION. 

premature union may be readily prevented, as we 
have before stated, by the careful introduction of the 
finger into the wound while it is still suppurating. 
But notwithstanding this precaution they will some- 
times occur as the result of the infiltration and accu- 
mulation of the suppurative matter. A free incision 
and proper attention to the cavity of the abscess, is 
all that this accident requires. A careful examina- 
tion of the parts will, however, reveal another cause 
for the formation of these abscesses. It is then 
against these causes that the therapeutic treatment 
must be directed. "We refer now to the complica- 
tion known as the formation of a 

CHAMPIGNON. 

This name is applied to an indurated condi- 
tion of the end of the cord, or in its thickness, 
of a tumefied character, varying in size and extent, 
and slow in its growth. It results from an excess of 
inflammatory action, attributable to the manipula- 
tions which become necessary during the perform- 
ance of the operation. The name " champignon " 
(or mushroom) is applied to it by the French, on ac- 
count of the pedunculated appearance which it some- 
times assumes, and which causes it to greatly resem* 
ble that fungus in its outward figure. It is also 
known as schirrous or indurated cord. The tumor 
is sometimes situated on the outside of the envelopes, 
when it is known as extra-scrotal, but more commonly 
it is found covered by the skin, in which case it is 
better known as intra-scrotal In this latter condi- 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 113 

tion it may be merely a growth at the end of the 
cord, becoming, as determined by its location, of an 
extra-inguinal character, or if the diseased process 
extends as far as the upper inguinal opening, or be- 
yond it, it becomes, and is so denominated,, intra- 
ab lominal. There is also an extra-intra-scrotal growth, 
when it is partly within and partly external to the 
scrotum. This tumor will vary greatly in size, being 
sometimes very small in dimensions, and at others 
having those of a man's fist. We have ourselves 
observed it equalling a child's head in size. 

The causes from which it originates are obscure,, 
and cannot be very well defined. Still, they may be 
arranged under the heading of any of the morbific 
causes which may excite an excess of inflammatory 
action at the end of the cord. Amongst these may 
be enumerated all violent tractions upon the cord at 
the time of the operation ; all unnecessary manipu- 
lations during the process of cicatrization, such as 
the too frequent introduction of the finger into the 
wound with destruction of the granulations already 
adherent to the cord, and the application of the ap- 
pliances for its division too low down upon it, leav- 
ing that organ hanging too much, and the retraction 
of the organ being insufficient to retain it in the in- 
guinal sac. Still, as a champignon may be developed 
in the absence of all these causes, it would seem that 
their growth may be attributed also to some specific 
idiosyncrasy in the animal affected, the true nature 
of which cannot be very accurately or easily under- 
stood. It is held, however, by certain German and 



114 ANIMAL CASTKATION. 

Russian authors that exposure to cold exercises a 
great deal of influence in the development of this 
affection, and observation has largely established 
the fact of its greater prevalence during cold seasons. 

Symptoms of extra-scrotal champignon, — This is 
otherwise known in the terminology of some patholo- 
gists as true or superficial champignon. It develops 
itself at the cut extremity of the cord as a granulat- 
ing mass, of a red color, varying in size, its growth, 
nevertheless, allowing the cicatrization of the skin 
to progress in such a manner that it forms a point of 
attachment from which the tumor seems to proceed. 
This form of it is usually of little account, as it may 
easily be removed before it has attained to trouble- 
some dimensions. "When of considerable propor- 
tions, however, it may interfere materially with the 
act of locomotion by causing pain in the cord, upon 
which it drags more or less. It is not often or nec- 
essarily accompanied by constitutional disturbance, 
excepting in cases of excessive suppuration, which 
may sooner or later undermine the general health 
by exhausting the stamina of the patient. 

If instead of showing its greatest development on 
the surface of the scrotum, it occurs beneath it, a 
greater or less degree of swelling will appear on one 
or both sides of the inguinal region, the swelling be- 
ing somewhat hard, possibly the seat of one or more 
fistulous tracks resulting from abscesses which have 
at times opened, discharged, and closed ; the animal 
showing a certain amount of stiffness in the action 
of the hind legs. In this case we shall have to 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 115 

adapt our treatment to the deep champignon of Zundel, 
under one of its three forms of extra-inguinal, intra- 
inguinal, and intra-abdominal. . 

Under the first head we shall often discover, upon 
inquiring into the history of the case, that for a 
length of time, varying from months, perhaps, to 
years, the animal had been affected with a swelling 
which would gather, break, and slowly heal, leaving 
no mark as an apparent indication of a diseased con- 
dition, excepting that a certain degree of lameness 
would have been observed to be present. Upon ex- 
ploring the testicular region it would then be ob- 
served to be the seat of a tumor, either spherical or 
pysiform, seldom painful, and more or less adherent 
to the envelope that covered it. Above this the end 
may be felt free from diseased process, and this is 
the champignon in its chronic form. In this condi- 
tion it is not incompatible with the general health 
of the animal affected, and forms no hindrance to his 
usefulness. This condition of extra-inguinal growth 
will sometimes dissolve away by an abscess-forma- 
tion, and quite disappear. But if the induration of the 
spermatic cord extends to the upper portion, or that 
which is enclosed in the inguinal canal, in such a 
manner as to interfere with locomotion, the leg cor- 
responding with the diseased side being carried in 
abduction, with numerous fistulous tracks existing 
on the surface of the scrotum, the intensity of the 
symptoms varying with the extent of the diseased 
process, the condition of the cord will be easily dis- 
covered by an examination of the parts, and the 



116 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

presence of an intra-inguival champignon established. 
If, besides these symptoms, we discover by rectal 
examination that there is in front of and above the 
pnbes a tumor more or less ovoid, or giving the 
sensation of a cylindrical mass, of size varying to the 
touch — which is the diseased indurated cord — the 
case is judged at once to be one of intra-abdominal 
nature. At times the inflammation may extend to 
the sub-lumbar region, when the hand introduced 
into the rectum may discover in that locality an 
ovoid tumor or abscess which may be of great size. 
This form of champignon is incomparably the most 
serious of them all; an intense and presistent react- 
ive fever is always present, and this at length termi- 
nates together the life and suffering of the animal. 
The abscess may sometimes open externally, and in 
some cases it may accumulate within the thickness 
of the cord and form large collections ; or, again, it 
may find its way into the abdominal cavity, where it 
may excite a fatal peritonitis. 

This rapid examination of the various forms of 
deep champignon will enable us easily to realize the 
difficulty of the progress in the case. While the 
pedunculated form, exterior to the scrotum, is not, 
comparatively, a very serious matter, it becomes, on 
the contrary, a very grave occurrence when it assumes 
the characters of the intra-abdominal variety, and 
must in a majority of cases be recognized as an incu- 
rable disorder. 

Treatment. — While champignon is an affection in 
which surgical interference cannot usually be dis- 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 



117 



pensed with, it is still essential that the surgeon 
should avoid being over hasty in determining in fa- 
vor of an operation, and he should give the case a 
very careful consideration before deciding upon his 
course. At first emollient applications, appropriate 
topical treatment, and a few points of cauterization, 
may be followed by a process of resolution. But in 
the event of their failure four modes of operation 
present themselves. These are, in their order, the 
application of the clamps; the ligature; the linear 
crushing or ecraseur ; and cauterization. When the 
case is one of the extra-scrotal variety, the applica- 
tion of a ligature around the base of the peduncle, 
or removal by ecraseur, will be the simplest mode 
of treatment, unless there should exist a tendency to 
infiltration of the cord, in which case the manipula- 
tions to be followed become the same as those which 
are adapted to that of the deep or intra-scrotal form. 
By the damps. — When the application of the clamps 
is resorted to, they may be similar to those used in 

Fig. 25. 




CURVED CLAMPS. 



ordinary castration, or may be curved in form (Fig. 
25). The animal to be operated on is to be thrown 
on either side according to which cord is affected, 



113 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

and an incision made through the envelopes as nearly 
parallel with the median line of the body as the case 
permits,when the tumor and the cord are carefully dis- 
sected and separated from their adhesions. If the 
tumor is suspended from the end of the cord there 
will be no difficulty in applying the clamp above it 
and upon a healthy portion of the cord. But if the 
diseased process extends within the inguinal canal, 
there will be need of great caution in dissecting the 
cord up to the healthy structure. In doing this the 
safer mode will be for the operator to treat the ad- 
hesions with the ringers or the blunt end of the 
scissors, rather than to employ the sharp edge of the 
bistoury with the accompanying danger of causing 
hemorrhage. If, on the contrary, the cord is dis- 
eased to an extent that renders it difficult to reach a 
healthy portion, other modes of operation — as by the 
ligature — become the wiser and more practicable 
indication. When the clamps are used it is neces- 
sary to leave them in place for several days, and 
sometimes they are allowed to slough off, while the 
growth is usually suffered to remain for a few days 
after the operation. 

Ligature. — When this mode of procedure is adopted, 
the tumor having been dissected and the cord well 
freed from its adhesions with surrounding parts, 
and the ligature being applied, the tumor may either 
be amputated immediately or be left to slough off in 
its own time. The ligature may be either of twine, 
silk, or elastic cord. We have ourselves operated 
by this method in the successful removal of growths 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 119 

of very considerable size. So long as the upper por- 
tion of the cord, which retains its healthy structure, 
can be reached, the application of the ligature is at- 
tended with no difficulty, the manipulations required 
being similar to those which attend the removal of 
all growths by the process of ligation. But if the 
diseased process extends so far that the ligature 
cannot be applied at the proper point, as in the case 
of intra-inguinal champignon, it will be necessary to 
have resort to the ligature-carrier recommended by 
Serres (Fig. 26). In using this instrument the loop 

Fig. 26. 




LIGATURE-CARRIER. 

of the ligature being passed over the tumor around 
the cord, is carried into the inguinal canal as high 
up as possible, pressure being made by holding the 
instrument against the cord, while strong traction is 
made on the ends of the ligature, which is then se- 
cured by a knot upon a small stick placed across the 
opening of the instrument, with a view to the 
prevention of slipping. If an increase of pressure is 
found to be necessary, it can easily be obtained by 
tightening the ligature from day to day as required. 
If the size of the cord should be such as to prevent 
a proper application of a single ligature, it may be- 
come necessary to divide it in applying a double, 



120 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

triple, or multiple ligatures, in accordance with the 
rales for such ligating. 

In whatsoever manner the ligature maybe applied, 
even when it is of the elastic kind, the process of 
sloughing of the tissues is always a slow one. It is 
for this reason that we agree with Prof. Bouley in 
considering the treatment of champignon by the linear 
crushing very much to be preferred. 

Ecraseur. — The steps of the operation with this 
instrument are similar to those required in the other 
methods already considered. The champignon is iso- 
lated from its surrounding parts, the chain is placed 
on the cord above the base of the tumor, and the 
amputation is completed by a slow pressure upon 
the cord, which, crushing it by degrees, permits its 
immediate removal. It must be done slowly, occupy- 
ing from ten to twenty minutes for the complete 
separation of the champignon, according to the size 
of the tumor. The operation being finished, the 
parts are left in the condition of a simple wound, 
where no cause exists to interfere with its rapid cica- 
trization. 

Cauterization. — This is a mode of treatment which 
we have never had occasion to submit to trial, hav- 
ing always given the preference to the pi*ocess we 
have just referred to. It is recommended, however, 
by European authorities. Some of these advocate 
the "melting" process, or the introduction of sharp 
points deeply into the thickest parts of the enlarge- 
ment, while others advise a removal of a portion of 
the growth and deep cauterization afterwards. If 



ANIMAL CASTEATION. 12 1 

cauterization can be advantageously employed, the 
best method, in our judgment, would be the process 
of amputation with Paccalin, or with the galvanic 
cautery. We may here, while referring to the appli- 
cation of electricity in this connection, appropriately 
refer to our own experience of a number of years 
ago, in treating an animal suffering with intra-scrotal 
champignon, by electrolysis, and succeeding after two 
applications, in obtaining the complete removal of 
the tumor. This method, however, consumes too 
much time to justify its employment in general prac- 
tice. * 

Treatment by Iodide of Potassium.— -There are cases 
where the development of the neoplasm is such that 
surgical interference cannot be considered; or again 
in cases where the champignon for various reasons 
will not allow the operation to be performed ; in such 
cases the internal administration of iodide of potas- 
sium can be resorted to. Many are the instances 
where it has brought recovery where any kind of 
relief could not be entertained by surgical interfer- 
ence. We have obtained several magnificent results 
with it, but although some European veterinarians 
are advocating it, others have but little faith in it. 

FISTULA OF THE SCROTUM. 

Being already aware of several causes of this com- 
plication of the operation of castration, we may 
readily appreciate the treatment they require. It 
must be remembered that in a majority of cases, the 
cause of this lesion is the presence of a foreign body 
in the wound, and that until it is removed, it is in 
vain to look for a cure. Prof. Bouley has reported 



122 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

a case in which the fistula was cine to the presence 
of a pair of clamps over which the skin had almost 
entirely cicatrized. 

INGUINAL HERNIA; HERNIA OF CASTRATION. 

By this is understood the protrusion of some por- 
tion of the contents of the abdominal cavity through 
the inguinal ring, either a portion of the omentum 
or of some part of the small intestines, creating 
either an epiplocele or an enterocele. This compli- 
cation may take place either during the operation, 
or shortly afterwards, or at the period of the removal 
\of the clamps. It proceeds from the violent strug- 
gling of the animal during the operation ; to the 
colics which are so apt to supervene ; to his position 
when placed in a stall of which the floor is too much 
inclined ; or it may result from some of the various 
modes of castration, as, for example, the uncovered 
operation. 

At times the two forms of hernia may pre- 
sent themselves together, constituting a case of 
entero-epiplocele. When the epiploan alone pro- 
trudes, it need not give rise to any unnecessary 
anxiety, as it may easily be either reduced and re- 
turned to its place, or ligated with the clamps, or 
torn apart. If, on the contrary, it is a portion of the 
small intestines which becomes involved, the first 
indication is to restore it to its place by the proper 
taxis without delay, which may be readily done, 
the animal being yet down and placed under an 
anesthetic, by the rectal taxis combined with the 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 123 

necessary inguinal manipulations. "When this has 
been accomplished the intestine is kept in place by 
the application of a clamp over the cord, upon which 
the fibrous coat of the cremaster has been carefully 
drawn. 

PERITONITIS. 

This complication, considered as one of the most 
frequent following castration, is also, beyond doubt, 
one of the most serious. It is generally the result of 
exjDosure to cold, especially when its occurrence ac- 
companies the suppurative fever. But it also de- 
velops itself in animals which have received the best 
hygienic care, its appearance being attributed to an 
excessive dragging of the o'ord, or to the extension 
of the local inflammation by continuity of tissues. 
It manifests itself generally between the second and 
third day following the operation, except when it 
becomes symptomatic, as of gangrene of the cord, 
when we have seen it making its appearance towards 
the tenth day. 

The symptoms of this traumatic peritonitis differ 
somewhat from those of the acute inflammatory type. 
According to Gourclon, "the animal is dull and 
refuses all food — the suppuration of the wound of 
the scrotum has ceased, the bags and surrounding 
parts become the seat of a warm, hard and painful 
swelling. The animal stands with his four legs 
brought close together, the back is stiff and arched, 
the flanks are cordy, the abdomen painful, the pulse 
hard, small and increased. As the disease progresses, 



124 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

the symptoms are more marked, the enlargement 
of the envelopes increases and is more diffuse, it ex- 
tends down to the abdomen, and even under the 
chest, passes along the thighs, is less varm, less 
hard, less painful, and pits under pressure. There 
are slight colics, the pulse gets smaller, intermittent, 
the respiration is increased, and the animal dies 
towards the fifth or sixth day." 

The treatment to be recommended varies accord- 
ing to different authors. While some prescribe de- 
pletive and sedative treatment, laxatives and diu- 
retics, many prefer tonics and stimulants. The Ger- 
mans claim great results from the use of tincture of 
arnica (in small doses) administered internally. The 
external treatment consists in sinapisms, warm 
fomentations, poultices, or fumigations under the 
abdomen. 

TETANUS. 

As with most cases of traumatic tetanus, this com- 
plication is generally fatal, and it is, without doubt, 
the most dangerous of all and marked by the greatest 
mortality. It is generally admitted that exposure to 
cold and dampness is one of the most prolific causes, 
especially in animals which, having but recently re- 
covered, are too soon put to work. The various 
modes of operation have also been considered to 
have some influence upon its development, though 
there is probably no ground upon which this theory 
can find a support. "Whether the nature of the soil 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 



125 



of a district, or its atmospheric condition, may have 
any connection with it, is also a question. "We know 
that in some portions of Long Island, cases of 
tetanus are commonly met with, at some seasons of 
the year, after surgical operations of every kind. 
It may appear within a few days following the 
castration, or it may defer its visitation for a period 
of twenty clays, or longer. 

Tetanus is certainly a very frequent complication 
of castration, but since the prophylactic application 
of antitoxine injection inaugurated by Prof. Nocard 
previous to the performance of any surgical operation, 
the dangers of its appearance have almost entirely 
vanished. As to the treatment indicated for the 
tetanus of castration, it is that which is applied to all 
cases of that traumatic affection. 

AMAUROSIS. 

This disease may also be included among those 
classed as the sequelae of castration, having been 
known to follow cases where hemorrhage of the 
small testicular artery had occurred. Tonic treat- 
ment internally and local stimulating applications 
may sometimes relieve this complication, but it will 
generally be admitted to be incurable. 

COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THE VARIOUS MODES 0E 
CASTRATION. 

The process by simple excision, by reason of the 
hemorrhage which necessarily accompanies it, though 



126 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

not inevitably dangerous, must be excluded from the 
domain of general practice. 

That of scraping the cord has not, so far as our 
knowledge extends, been sufficiently tested, either in 
European or American practice, to justify its recom- 
mendation. 

The process of torsion below tlie epididymis is too 
much subject to the development of champignon, as 
well as that oifree torsion with the hands, to be ad- 
mitted by judicious operators, while the limited tor- 
sion is a method which has taken rank amongst safe 
operators, notwithstanding the enormous swelling of 
the parts by which it is commonly accompanied, and 
the necessity it involves of the introduction of the 
fingers into the wound to prevent its premature 
closing. 

The method by the ecraseur, though occupying a 
longer time in its completion than some others, has 
secured very favorable results, especially in the 
hands of American operators. 

The operation by cauterization is highly recom- 
mended by English veterinarians. We believe, con- 
trary to the statements of French authors, that it is 
not widely in use on this Continent. The objections 
urged against it are that the hemostatic effect upon 
the cord is less reliable than in the method by the 
clamps or the ligature ; that there is more or less 
danger of cauterizing the surrounding parts by the 
effect of the radiant heat from the cautery ; and that 
the swelling which follows the operation is always 
excessively great. 

Castration by the clamps is the best known and 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 127 

most extensively practised. It is easy and quick in 
its performance ; performs the most certain hemos- 
tasis upon the artery, and notwithstanding some 
slight objections, merits a preference over all others. 
The principal objection alleged against it is that it 
is attended with great pain to the suffering patient 
when the pressure of the instrument upon the soft 
tissues is first felt. This is a doubtful question, and 
if this excessive amount of pain really exists, it cer- 
tainly cannot be of long continuance, merely on ac- 
count of the effect produced by the clamps themselves. 

Of the various methods by ligature, that of the li- 
gation of the cord with its envelopes is applicable to 
small animals only. That upon the cord alone is 
liable to be followed by hemorrhage, or by the exces- 
sive retraction of the cord into the abdominal cavity, 
drawing the ligature with it. That of the efferent 
canal and of the cord by the subcutaneous mode are 
not admitted in general practice, while that of the 
artery alone has not been extensively performed on 
large animals, so far as we are informed, except by 
certain Massachusetts veterinarians. 

The castration by double subcutaneous twisting, when 
extensively applied to solipeds, will probably prove 
to be the safest mode of all, and least likely to be 
followed by complications. We are not informed as 
to the extent to which it has been practised in this 
country, even amongst ruminants. 

Aseptic Castration is no doubt the chosen method 
when it can be strictly applied. "With minute asepsy 
the results are most brilliant, and of 48 horses oper- 
ated by Plosz, 47 recovered without suppuration. 



CHAPTEE VL 

CASTRATION OF FEMALES OR OVARIOTOMY — HISTORY — 
INDICATIONS — EFFECTS UPON THE ORGANISM AND 
SPECIAL FUNCTIONS — ADVANTAGES IN COWS — CON- 
DITIONS FAVORABLE TO THE OPERATION — ANATOMY 
— MODUS OPERANDI — BY THE FLANKS — CHARLIER'S 
PROCESS — INSTRUMENTS — VARIOUS STEPS — DIVISION 
OF THE VAGINA — SEIZING THE OVARY — TWISTING IT 
OFF — COMPLICATIONS — HEMORRHAGE— PERITONITIS 
ABSCESS OF THE PELVIC CAVITY— CONSTIPATION — 
SUBCUTANEOUS EMPHTSEMA— CASTRATION OF THE 
SMALL ANIMALS — OF SWINE — OF SLUTS — OF FOWLS. 

As I have stated before, the revival of the opera- 
tion of castration upon large females is due to a 
Louisiana farmer, Thomas Winn, who, in the year 
1831, castrated several of his cows. 

Without entering upon the history which includes 
a record of the failures and successes attendant upon 
the introduction of the operation, it may suffice to 
say that until the improvements made by Charlier 
in the manipulations involved in the operation, it 
encountered considerable opposition, and it is within 

(138) 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 129 

a comparatively recent period that it lias become 
established in the domains of veterinary surgery. 

The indications by which this operation commend 
itself to agriculturists, and others who find profit or 
pleasure in the use or ownership of these domestic 
animals, are several. Among them are the influence 
which it exercises upon the secretion of milk in cows, 
and upon the power of accumulating fat, and its ef- 
fects upon the character and temper of all the large 
females, in which relation it obviously acts as a 
therapeutic agent, in overcoming certain peculiar 
conditions by which they are distinguished. In re- 
spect to the effect of the operation of spaying the 
cow upon the milk secretion, it is a fact well estab- 
lished that it not only increases the amount and du- 
ration of the flow, but also improves the quality of 
that valuable fluid, the spayed cow not only continu- 
ing the production from eighteen to twenty-four 
months, but giving a product far richer in the 
elements of nutrition. This is shown by the en- 
hanced proportions of the cream, the caseine aud the 
sugar, which determine its richness and value, both 
economically and commercially, after alteration. 

But even this argument in favor of spaying the 
cow is rendered more weighty by the fact that besides 
its influence on the milky secretion, there is also that 
which is furnished by the consideration of its effect in 
augmenting the deposit of fat throughout the frame, 
for it is through this tendency that the flesh of the ani- 
mal becomes so greatly improved in its nutritive qual- 
ity as compared with that of the same species whep in 



130 ANIMAL CASTftATION. 

the entire condition, becoming so noticably more ten- 
der, juicy and palatable, retaining more of the oily 
element, digesting more easily, and so, of course, ac- 
quiring a pecuniary value in the market not before 
possessed. These remarks apply to the dry equally 
with the milch cow, and leaving out the reference to 
the milk secretion, to the ox as well. 

With respect to the effect of the operation upon 
the character and disposition of the cow, these are 
easily illustrated in the movements of the nympho- 
maniac animal, which may be said to be constantly 
in a state of hysterical excitement. They seem to 
be in continual conditions of heat, running after and 
mounting other animals with which they may be in 
company, while never producing and giving no milk. 
They are always in a lean condition, and must re- 
main a pecuniary loss to the dairyman. This mani- 
festation of nymphomania is also met with in the 
mare, which, continually exhibiting signs of heat, 
becomes more or less dangerous on that account. In 
these cases the advantage of the operation of spay- 
ing cannot be overlooked. We have personal knowl- 
edge of several cases of this character, in which 
worthless and troublesome mares have been trans^ 
/ formed into docile and valuable animals. 

CONDITIONS FAVOEABLE TO THE OPERATION. 

Charlier expresses the opinion that the best time, 
for the performance of the operation upon cows is 
from the sixth to the eighth year, or after they have 
had their second or third calf. If performed at an 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 131 

earlier period tlie great objection originally urged 
against castration, that its performance would tend 
to the diminution of the stock in numbers or "pop- 
ulation," might find more or less confirmation. But 
by an observance of this condition all danger of the 
"annihilation of stock would be obviated. The coav 
to be operated on ought to be in fair condition, not 
in heat or pregnant, and the time selected should 
be from forty to sixty days after calving. 

ANATOMY. 

The vagina is situated within the pelvic cavity, be- 
tween the rectum and the bladder. Its internal face 
presents numerous longitudinal folds, the purpose 
of which is to permit the free dilatation of the parts. 
At the bottom of the passage is situated the neck of 
the uterus, giving to the finger the sensation of a pro- 
jection, hard towards the cavity of the vagina, and 
in the centre of which is felt a closed opening, from 
which radiate the folds of the mucous membrane. 
The uterus (Figs. 27 and 28), continued forward to the 
neck, is situated in the abdominal cavity, occupying 
the sub-lumbar region, with its posterior extremity 
resting at the end of the pelvic cavity. It is somewhat 
pyriform in shape, and larger at its base, where it di- 
vides into two lateral halves, continued by the horns. 
The concave curvature of these horns look downward 
in the cow, but face upwards in the mare. In both 
they give attachment to the broad ligaments. These 
are folds of the peritoneum, more developed for- 
ward than behind, rising from the sub-lumbar re- 



132 ANIMAL CASTRATION, i 

gion, and descending towards the uterus, to fix 
themselves upon the sides of the superior face of the 
body of this organ, and, as before stated, upon the 
curvature of the horns. Their anterior border is 
free, and gives support to the oviducts and the 
ovaries. Between the serous layers are found the 
utero-ovarian artery and veins, largely developed. 
The ovaries are situated on the internal face of the 
broad ligament, forming a small ovoid mass, which 
receives a special serous lamella, a sort of ligament, 
having between its layers a few grayish muscular 
fibres, which may be strong enough to offer serious 
resistance when the extirpation of the organ is at- 
tempted. 

MODUS OPERANDI. 
Ovariotomy or Spaying in Large Animals, 

There are two modes of operation. The original 
method was that of removal through the flanks, 
which, however, has fallen into disuse since the in- 
troduction of the process of Charlier, of removal 
through the vagina. This process is altogether to 
be preferred, as being safer, more consistent with 
scientific surgery, and in a word is the only one 
which it is proper to perform, so long as the capacity 
of the vagina permits the necessary manipulations 
to be performed 

METHOD BY THE FLANKS. 

Four steps are necessary to be followed in thiu 



Fro. 27= 




RIGHT OVARY OF THE COW WITH ITS ATTACHMENTSo 

' U. — Right horn of the uterus. L. — Broad ligament. L' — Its 
anterior border. O. — Ovary. R. — Peritoneal fold where it is 
suspended. S. — Superior ovarian ligament. T. — Inferior ovarian 
ligament. A. — Ovarian artery. V. — Ovarian vein. I. — Oviduct. 
P.— Its pavilion. X. — Its superior or fimbriated opening. Z. — Its 
inferior opening* 

(133) 







LONGITrrrS'AL SECTION OF THE PELVIS OF THE MAKE SHOTTING 
THE POSITION AM) CONNECTION OF THE GENITAL ORGANS. 

1 — Uterus. S — Horn of the uterus. 3 — Vagina. 4 — Blad- 
der. 5— Rectum. 7 8 — Vulva. 9— Ovary. 10— Oviduct. 11 
— Kidney. 13 — Broad ligament. 

(134) 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 135 

method. The first is securing the animal. The cow 
is usually kept on her feet, pressed firmly against a 
wall, the legs secured with hobbles, and her head 
controlled, as much as possible, by a strong assist- 
ant. The second step is the incision of the flank. 
This is made on the left side, with a sharp, convex 
bistoury, in the middle of the superior portion of 
that region, dividing the skin and muscles vertically, 
care being taken that the incision is not carried too 
low down, in order to avoid the division of the cir- 
cumflex artery, which passes along in that vicinity. 
An opening is then made in the peritoneum, either 
with the knife or with the fingers, sufficiently large 
to permit the introduction of the fingers. In the third 
step of the operation, which comprehends the re- 
moval of the ovary, the surgeon introduces his hand 
into the abdomen, and turning it towards the pelvis, 
feels for the horns of the uterus. Upon finding 
these the ovaries are easily discovered. He care- 
fully draws them outwards, and their removal is ef- 
fected either with the ecraseur or the forceps of 
Charlier. The operation is concluded by the appli- 
cation of a quill suture, or by a double row of sutures 
and a dressing of iodoformed collodion. 

METHOD BY THE VAGINA. 

For this operation special instruments are re- 
quired. These consist of, first, a vaginal dilator 
(Fig. 29), or speculum, of peculiar and somewhat 
complicated construction, to be modified subse- 



Fig. 29.— charlier's vaginal speculum. 





(Closed.) 




(Open, 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 



137 



Fig. 30. quently by another (Fig 30), of supe- 
rior form and easier of application, and 
now in general use ; second, a bistoury 
cache (Fig. 31 j, sliding on its handles, 
Fig. 3L 




BISTOURY CACHE 

which is a true embryotomy knife, mod- 
ified by Colin (Fig. 32) ; third, a pair of 
Fig. 32. 



colin's bistoury cache. 



J\\ 

M W long, sharp scissors (Fig. 33), with 
^■^ guarded blades, curved on its flat sur- 

face ; fourth, a torsion forceps (Fig. 31), 
closed by a peculiar thread arrange- 
ment, moved by the handle ; and fifth, 
a steel thimble (Fig. 35), which has been modified 
by the instrument shown in Fig. 36, and which 
is used in applying the limited torsion on the broad 
ligaments. 



MODIFIED 
VAGINAL 

SPECULUM. 



Fig. 33. 



Fig. 34. 

FORCEPS FOR CASTRATION OF COWS. 




SCISSORS TO DIVIDE THE 
BROAD LIGAMENT. 





Fig. 35. — Thimbt.e 
for Castration. 



Fm. 36 — Covin's Nippers, 
to take the place of the thimble. 
U38) 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 139 

Preparation of the animal. — No general preparation 
is required, except one, which may be regarded as of 
local effect, but is not to be overlooked. This consists 
in the evacuation of the bowels by means of a rectal 
injection, in order that the arms of the surgeon may 
not become unnecessarily soiled during the opera- 
tion. The animal is secured on her feet by being 
placed in a narrow stall to prevent her from moving 
from side to side, the floor of the stall having an in- 
clination forwards, in order to prevent the pressure 
by gravitation of the intestinal mass towards the 
posterior parts of the abdomen. 

It is understood that antiseptic measures are here 
also indicated. Disinfection of the vulva, of the 
vagina, and thorough aseptic condition of the instru- 
ments, of the hand and arm of the operator. 

The operation is completed in two steps, of which 
the first is the incision of the vagina, and the second 
the extirpation of the ovaries. 

THE INCISION IN THE VAGINA. 

This is made in the following manner. The ope- 
rator introduces the speculum with his right hand, 
through the vulva, into the vaginal cavity, and care- 
fully passing in his left hand, well oiled, directs and 
introduces the little prolongation A of the speculum 
into the centre of the neck of the uterus, gently 
pressing upon it in order to keep it in place. In 
using the original dilator, the opening of the branches 
must be so regulated as to put the walls of the vagina 
upon the stretch. Or, if he uses the modified specu- 
lum, he pushes the instrument downwards and for- 
wards, and by this motion distends the upper wall 



140 ANIMAL CASTRATION. * 

of the cavity, keeping the instrument in that position 
by a. hold of the left hand, which has been withdrawn 
from the vagina. He then arms himself with the 
bistoury cache, which he holds closed in his full 
hand and introduces with the right hand into the 
vagina. Carefully feeling the condition of the upper 
wall of this cavity, and assuring himself of its being 
well stretched, he rests his hand, still holding the bis- 
toury, upon the opening or " window " at the end of 
the speculum (Figs. 37 and 38), and by firmly pushing 
the blade (the sharp edge being turned backwards) out 
of its handle, pierces with it the vaginal walls, about 
two inches above the neck of the uterus, and with a 
motion from below upwards and from before back- 
wards, makes an incision on the median line, from 
three to three and a half inches in length. The in- 
troduction of the instrument must be made in such 
a manner that it will pass at once through the walls 
of the vagina proper, as well as through the perito- 
neal cap which it presents at its anterior portion. 

The incision being completed, the speculum is 
carefully withdrawn ; and if a slight hemorrhage 
should occur, the blood should be removed before the 
surgeon proceeds to the second step of the operation. 

REMOVAL OF THE OVARIES. 

Then, again introducing his hand into the 
vagina, and passing his finger through the opening 
made by the incision, he feels for the ovaries, which 
he finds floating at the extremity of their ligaments, 
towards the entrance of the pelvis, below, on each 



Fm. 37, 




-""" nos ot ' ws V.. seller's pn 

Incision of the vagina. 



Fig. 88. 




CASTRA7 on of cows. (Charlier's process), 
let step. Incision of the vagina. 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 143 

side, and at a short distance from the incision, be- 
tween the base of the uterine horns, near and inside 
of the free border of the ligaments, and a little above 
the anterior border of the pubis. Then, grasping 
the ovarian body, he draws it carefully into the 
vagina, through the incision, and introduces the long- 
scissors, with the guarded blade of which he divides 
the thick border of the broad ligament (Fig. 39), re- 
placing the ovaries into the abdomen without releas- 
ing his hold. The torsion forceps is then passed 
into the vagina and through the incision, and is 
made to take hold with its open jaws of the broad 
ligament (Fig. 40), above the ovary, and is firmly 
closed by the movement of the spiral crank of the 
handle (D). Both hands being now outside of the 
vaginal cavity, and the forceps being secured on the 
broad ligament, held by the right hand, the left 
thumb is protected by the thimble (E),and the hand 
once more inserted, to grasp the broad ligament 
above the point where the jaws of the torsion forceps 
are placed. In this position the torsion is made 
with the forceps, the twisting of the ligament being 
limited by the firm pressure made by the thimble 
on the thumb with the index finger, or by a pair of 
crushing pincers. After several turns of the instru- 
ment, the ovary is separated from its attachment, 
and may be brought out of the cavity, still held se- 
curely between the oval jaws of the torsion forceps. 
The same method is applicable to the ovaries of 
both sides. These rules are subject to more or less 
modification by indications which may occasionally 



Pig. 39. 




SCISSORS DIVIDING THE BROAD LIGAMENTS. 

(144) 




Fig. 40.— torsion of the ovary. 
A B— Forceps closed, B C— Forceps open, E— Thimble, 



146 AXQIAL CASTRATION. 

present themselves, arising from the age of the animal 
or the structure or other conditions of the ovaries. 

This method of castration has been modified in 
many ways, both as to the forms of the instruments 
used, and the mode of using them, a majority of 
operators, at the present time even, discarding the 
dilator, and making the incision simply by stretch- 
ing the walls of the vagina and pushing against the 
neck of the uterus with the hand. The manner in 
which the removal of the ovaries is effected has also 
been subjected to many changes. For more than 
twenty years, during which we have been perform- 
ing the operation, we have been accustomed to use 
the ecraseur in the last step, and with excellent and 
satisfactory results. 

The subsequent attention required by the spayed 
cow is usually a very simple matter, and involves 
little beyond careful dieting, the patient recovering 
from the general effects upon the system usually in 
a few days. 

COWPLICATIONS. 

It may properly be said that there are no compli- 
cations likely to follow the process in the castration 
of cows, which may be denominated serious. In the 
statistics which record the mortality attending it> 
the fatal cases are represented at the very trifling 
rate of two per cent. A light colic may sometimes 
follow it, but it usually subsides without medical 
treatment. Still, however, spaying may at times be 
accompanied by accidents of a serious character, 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 147 

though these have considerably diminished in fre- 
quency since the introduction of the method of 
Charlier. One of these is 

HEMORRHAGE, 

which may occur when the torsion or the crushing of 
the artery has not been sufficiently complete. But 
though it is likely to give rise to peritonitis, it is not 
necessarily a fatal complication. We have ourselves 
known of cases of its occurrence in mares which 
had survived it a number of days, and when destroy- 
ed exhibited none of the lesions of that affection. 

PERITONITIS. 

"We have several times met with this sequel to the 
operation, especially in mares. But in these cases, 
as revealed by post mortem investigation, the disease 
seemed generally to have remained localized. Less 
common than prior to the practice of castration per 
vagina, it still is followed by fatal consequences 
when the entire peritoneum becomes diseased. Its 
appearance usually occurs from the third to the 
sixth day. There is suspension of the milky secre- 
tion, general dullness, chills, anorexia, suspension of 
rumination, rapid, small and thready pulse, some- 
times painful respiration, rapid loss of flesh, and 
speedily— death. The indications of treatment are 
similar to those which are applicable to peritonitis 
in the solipeds, but the prognosis is always serious. 

ABSCESS IN THE PELVIC CAVITY. 

This is a complication we have quite often en- 
countered. Besides the general symptoms, there 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 148 

are those of a local character, which are detected by- 
rectal examination, by which discovery is made of 
the presence of a tumor on one side or the other of 
the vagina, varying in size, fluctuating, and easily 
identified. This abscess may be opened in the 
cavity of the vagina, and should be attended to as 
soon as discovery is made of the fluctuating charac- 
ter of the growth, without waiting for the process of 
natural resolution. 

SUBCUTANEOUS EMPHYSEMA. 

Emphysema of the subcutaneous connective tissue 
is said to be a common sequel to the flank operation. 
Its appearance need not excite any special uneasi- 
ness, as its termination is usually by spontaneous 
disappearance. It is an accident we have never en- 
countered in our practice. 

CONSTIPATION. 

This complication, which is often met with in 
mares, is to be carefully looked for, and must be 
relieved by laxative food and rectal injections. It 
is due to the pain which accompanies defecation 
while the wound of the vagina is healing, and which 
the animal tries to avoid by keeping the rectum 
full. 

CASTRATION OF THE SMALL ANIMALS. 
SMALL RUMINANTS. 

For these subjects, two modes of operation are 
to be principally recommended. The first is the 
double subcutaneous torsion; the other the liga- 



Fig. 41, 




GENITAL ORGANS OF A YOUNG SOW. 



(Median and anteroposterior section). 1 — Ovary. 2 — Horn 

of the uterus. 3 — Body of the uterus. 4 — Rectum. 5 — Vagina. 

6 — Bladder. 7 — Kidney. 9 — Intestines. 10 — Stump of one of 

the horns of the uterus. 

(14?) ' 



150 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

hire en masse of the cord and its envelopes. Hav- 
ing already considered these operations, a passing 
reference will suffice here. 

FOR SWINE. 

Iii sows, it must be remembered that the horns 
of the uterus are very long and flexuous (Fig. 41), 
and that the very small ovaries are situated on the 
inside of the broad ligaments, which are very large, 
and allow the horns to float freely amongst the cir- 
cumvolutions of the intestines. Ordinarily it is when 
the animal is about two months old that she is 
spayed, although sometimes it is later. She must 
be prepared by a full diet of 24 hours. 

Fig. 42. 




BISTOURY FOR THE CASTRATION OF SOW. 

( Division of the flank). 

The operation can be performed through the flank, 
but more commonly by the median line. 

By the Flank. — The animal must be prepared by 
being secured upon the right side in order to ex- 
pose the left flank. The incision is made with a 
knife of peculiar form (Fig. 42), the coarse bristles 
having been previously closely clipped off. Care 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 151 

should be taken to carry the left leg in extension 
backwards, in such a manner that the edges of the 
various tissues divided shall not meet each other 
■when the operation is completed. The incision may 
be made either vertically, horizontally, or obliquely. 
When vertical, it should be immediately below the 
lumbar vertebra next to the last rib ; if horizontal, it 
should be parallel with the vertebral column. The 
vertical incision should be preferred, because it 
brings the ovaries within easy reach of the fingers. 
It should be from two to three inches in length, and 
should be made by a single stroke of the knife, and 
without dividing the peritoneum, which should, after- 
wards, be either torn with the finger or carefully cut 
while raised with the forceps. To find the ovaries 
the operator introduces the index finger of the right 
hand between the vertebral column and the intes- 
tines, and explores the lumbar region. Upon finding 
the ovarian sac, he presses it against the abdominal 
wall and causes it to slide by pushing towards the 
opening through which it is extruded and grasped. 
While it is held there the left horn is carefully 
drawn out after it, until arriving at the bifurcation 
of the horns at the uterus, the right horn also is 
brought out and the ovary on that side secured. 
Both glands being now outside, they are torn or 
scraped off from their attachment, and the horns are 
returned to the abdomen. 

While this process is readily applicable to young 
sows, and requires a certain amount of practice to 
be performed expertly and with success, it is slightly 



152 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

modified when applied to older animals. In thai 
case the two horns must not be exposed outside to- 
gether, but each must be returned when the removal 
of the ovary connected with it has been effected. 

The simple tearing of the ovaries is not always 
sufficient, and maybe sometimes followed by serious 
hemorrhage. The scraping and the torsion are safer, 
and in some instances the ligature has been applied. 
The incision is closed with the interrupted or, which 
is preferable, the continued suture. No special after- 
treatment is required beyond low diet for a few days, 
with a little extra attention to cleanliness. 

The operation may at times be rendered difficult 
by exceptional and accidental conditions, as, for ex- 
ample, the shortness of the fingers of the operator. 
This difficulty, however, can be overcome by placing 
a bundle of straw or other substance under the right 
flank, which, by raising the body, displaces the in- 
testines upwards and crowds the ovary towards the 
left flank. 

It may also happen, as sometimes with old sows, 
that the ovary has become the seat of large cysts, 
or that its size is increased in consequence of patho- 
logical changes in its structure. In the first case, 
the cyst may be punctured and emptied with a 
trocar before attempting the obliteration of the 
organ. In the second, the opening into the abdomen 
must be enlarged sufficiently to permit the exit of 
the extra bulk. 

If through inadvertence the operation has been 
begun while the animal is in a state of pregnancy, 



154 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

the proceeding must be discontinued, the patient 
kept quiet and the matter indefinitely postponed. 

By the Median Line. — The animal is kept on its 
back, with the hind quarters raised. The region 
being prepared, the skin is incised and then the 
muscular aponeurotic coat underneath in the space 
inclosed between the three back pairs of teats, the 
peritoneum is perforated with the fingers. Introduc- 
ing the index finger in the abdomen, it readily feels 
the horns and the ovaries, which are pulled out- 
wards and removed. The wound is closed by strong 
suture. 

For Prof. Cadiot the flank operation is the best, 
but we certainly advocate that by the method of 
laparotomy, and for more complete details refer our 
readers to the same operation in bitches (see p. 155.) 

DOGS. 

In the female, when, as is sometimes supposed, it 
becomes a preventive measure in respect to hydro- 
phobia — though if it be so, it can only be from the 
fact that a castrated bitch will usually remain at 
home while others are running abroad in heat, and 
thus be more exposed to contagion — the operation i s 
only justifiable in the case of house dogs, domestic 
pets, in order to obviate the annoyance caused to 
their owners by their demonstrations while in heat. 
In the bitch the broad ligaments are very long (Fig. 
43), extending as far as the hypochondriac region, 
where they divide into an external layer, which 
reaches to the last rib, while the other extends to 



ANIMAL CASTtlATlON. 15$ 

the sub-lumbar region behind the diaphragm. The 
broad ligaments diminish in height as they run for- 
ward in such a way that the anterior border of the 
external layer where the ovary is found, shorter in 
its median part, gives a certain amount of fixity to 
the anterior extremity of the horns which it keeps 
elevated in each hypochondriac region ; on that ac- 
count both horns cannot be at one time brought 
through the incision, and it becomes generally neces- 
sary in the bitch to operate on each side. 

As in sows, the operation can be done by the flank 
or through the linea alba. Prof. Cadiot prefers the 
first, although it requires two incisions. Prepared 
by a full diet of 24 hours, the animal is secured in 
lateral position on a table. Anaesthesia is not neces- 
sary. The skin of the flank is shaved and disinfected, 
a cutaneous incision is made near the last rib, the 
muscles perforated with the fingers and the abdom- 
inal cavity entered. Introducing the index finger 
into it, feeling for the kidney, the ovary is found back 
of it, drawn outside and removed by torsion or exci- 
sion after ligature. The cutaneous wound is closed 
by suture. 

The operation by laparotomy is certainly to be 
preferred. 

Dr. P. B. Rogers, of Newbury, N. J., describes it 
as follows : 

OOPHORECTOMY OF THE BITCH. 

Selection of Time for the Operation.— The best time 
is as soon as possible after the animal is five or six 



Fig. 44. 




GENITAL ORGAN OF THE ROOSTER. 

1.- -Testicle. 2a 2d. — Deferent canals. 3. — Ureters. 4. — Cloacum. 5. — 
Posterior aorta. 7. —Posterior vena cava. 8, 9, 10. — Three last ribs. 11.— 
Pelvic bones. 



ANIMAL CASTBATION. 157 

months old, and before the first period of heat ; the 
uterus is then sufficiently developed to allow the 
skilled finger to recognize it, and the uterine appen- 
dages are free from fat. 

Selection of Subject — The operation should be 
avoided when the bitch is in heat and when the mam- 
mary glands are active ; decided obesity also may 
render the operation difficult and the results un- 
promising. 

Preparation for the Operation, — Solid food is to be 
withheld for 24 to 36 hours prior to operating. 

Anaesthesia.— The writer does not use or recom- 
mend the use of general anaesthesia. 

If it is insisted on, the operator must in his turn 
insist on the employment of a confrere to attend to 
the exhibition of the anaesthetic. Ether is to be 
preferred and if given very slowly and with discre- 
tion will be much less liable to cause after intoxica- 
tion and vomiting than if the drug is pushed. It 
should be suspended as soon as the ligated uterus 
is returned to the peritoneal cavity as the effect will 
persist long enough to allow closure of the wound. 

Means of Restraint. — The nose is enclosed in a loop 
of stout twine and the ends tied behind the ears. 
The front legs are tied together at the middle of the 
arm. One assistant controls the fore extremities and 
head, another the hind legs, the animal being 
placed in a position of dorsal decubitus. 

Instruments required. —Scissors (curved), a bistoury, 
a nicking-knife, a uterine sound, curved needles, 
silver wire (about 28) and silk thread. 



158 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

Preparation of the Seat of Incision. — Wash with soap 
and carbolized water, and shave a sufficient sur- 
rounding area to avoid hair getting into the incision 
or becoming entangled in the ligature. 

Seat of the Operation. — Midway between the last 
pair of teats. This seat is preferred because the 
recti at this point are thick and offer a decided 
mechanical obstacle to the occurrence of hernia after 
the operation, although the ovaries are more readily 
reached by making the incision an inch or so farther 
forward. 

The Operation. — With the bistoury make an incision 
through the skin, on the median line ; it should be 
about li inches in length, just sufficient to admit 
one finger freely. Then with the nicking-knife held 
in the " pen " position cut boldly through (between) 
the recti and peritoneum at one sweep of the knife ; 
when the peritoneum is incised, as shown by the 
resistance to the pressure of the knife ceasing, turn 
the heel of the knife down and complete the mus- 
cular incision, being careful that it is the same length 
as the incision in the skin. Pass the uterine sound, 
keeping it on the superior wall of the vagina (the 
skilled operator soon learns to do without the sound). 
Pass one finger into the wound and feel for the 
sound, bring out the uterus, and, holding one horn 
taut, pass the finger along it until the ovary is felt 
suspended in the broad ligament. Break down 
gently the adhesions of this last to the sub-lumbar 
region and bring out the ovary and its appendages. 
Repeat the process on the other horn. Ligate both 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 159 

horns together about midway between the ovary and 
the body of the uterus, and remove the ligated por- 
tion, being careful to leave sufficient stump to prevent 
the ligature slipping. Wash off the parts with ster- 
ilized water and return them to the abdominal cavity. 
Pass a silver suture midway of the incision, being 
careful to include the peritoneum on both sides and 
taking a good hold of the muscle. 

Keep the finger beneath the wire until the stitch is 
completed to avoid including any of the abdominal 
contents in the ligature. On each side of this suture, 
equidistant from it and the anterior and posterior 
extremities of the incision, pass wire sutures into the 
muscle but not going through it, including of course 
the skin. 

If more sutures are thought necessary, they should 
be sutures of co-aptation, and include the skin only. 
Wash off any remaining blood and dust the parts 
with a dry antiseptic. 

After Treatment. — Kemove the sutures on the fifth 
day after the operation, and keep the patient on a 
diet of milk and water until the sutures are removed. 

Mortality. — The death rate should not be more than 
1 per cent. Fatal results are usually due to periton- 
itis or to intestinal obstruction through the character 
of the early adhesions formed. 

It now remains to consider the rationale of the 
above procedure, which it will be observed is directed 
toward a minimum of disturbance of the parts in- 
volved. 

The horns are ligated together so as to have one 



160 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

raw surface to form adhesions instead of two. The 
short incision, because we know that the fatality in 
operations involving the peritoneal cavity is in ratio 
with the length of the incision. The sound is recom- 
mended to avoid undue handling of the abdominal 
contents in the effort to locate the uterus. Lastly, 
silver wire is preferred as a suture, because " stitch 
abscess " is absent when it is used while silk often 
makes a veritable capillary drainage from the ab- 
dominal cavity and thus allows microbic injection 
from without. 

The ligature of the horns may be either encysted 
or absorbed (we have seen both conditions in bitches 
re-operated on for professional friends). Blood left 
in the abdomen will be promptly absorbed if the 
wound is well closed. 

There are twolate complications of canine oophor- 
ectomy which merit a passing notice. One is a 
gradually increasing intestinal obstruction due to the 
ligated horns forming an intestinal adhesion which 
grows more and more acutely angular as the uterus 
pulls on the gut as it (the uterus) becomes atrophied. 
The remedy is abdominal incision and breaking up 
of the adhesions (we have operated on such cases 
successfully). 

The other is interesting from a physiological stand- 
point. Occasionally a properly spayed bitch will 
suffer at intervals from vaginal hemorrhage ; some- 
times it is a mere stain, sometimes blood discharged 
in clots points to rupture of the vessels of the vaginal 
mucosa. It is not attended by heat and appears to be 



ANIMAL CASTRATION 161 

an effort of nature to return in some degree to sexual 
life. 

CATS. 

In female cats, the operation is performed similar 
to that of spaying sows. As cats are more apt to 
bite or claw the wounds than dogs, the parts should 
be protected by bandage until the wounds have 
healed. 

CASTRATION OF FOWLS. 

The effect of this operation upon the quality of 
the flesh and the power of accumulating fat, in the 
domestic fowl is a fact too familiar to those who have 
learned to appreciate the exquisite juicy qualtity of 
the meat of the capon to need any comment at our 
hands. The operation upon these animals is one of 
considerable difficulty and requires skill and experi- 
ence to perform with nicety and success. 

In birds the testicles are situated in the abdomi- 
nal cavity, immediately behind the lungs, under the 
vertebral column and in front of the kidneys (Fig. 
44). They correspond exactly to the articulation of 
the last three ribs with the spinal column, where 
they lie close together and in contact with the blood 
vessels which separate them from the kidneys. They 
are held in position by the peritoneum spread above 
them, and by minute blood vessels, branches of the 
aorta or of the vena cava. 

In the operation the fowl is placed on his side, 
the tail being towards the operator, with the hind 



162 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

leg carried backwards, in order to expose the flank 
of the side selected for the incision. The first step of 
the operation consists in plucking the feathers from 
a sufficient extent of surface, and making an incision 
a little behind the lateral internal processes of the 
sternum, from within outwards, and from before 
backwards, and slightly oblique, through the skin 
and the thin muscles of the abdomen, and when 
reaching the peritoneum carefully opening it with a 
puncture, having it raised with a pair of forceps. 
The second step, or that which involves the extirpa- 
tion of the gland, is performed by the introduction 
of the index finger of the right hand into the abdo- 
men, passing it above the intestinal mass and turn- 
ing towards the dorsal region near the articulation 
of the last two ribs, where the testicles are felt, 
prominent at the sub-lumbar region. Then, with 
the fingers half flexed, the adhesions of the organ are 
broken off, and the organ, held in the bend of the 
finger, is brought outside. The second testicle is 
removed by the same process. If the testicles should 
slip from the grasp of the finger, the accident is of 
little account, as they will graft themselves upon the 
walls of the abdomen, and in time disappear by 
resolution. The operation is concluded by the 
closing of the wound by stitches of interrupted 
suture, and the healing usually takes place by first 
intention. 

The operation is performed in the hen in the same 
manner as with the male bird, the ovaries being 
found in the lumbar region, from which they are re- 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 



163 



Fig. 45. 



moved by the same manipulations that are employed 
in caponizing. 

Young fowls, about in their third month, are 
usually selected as the victims of this epicurean 
barbarity. 

Prof. J. E. Eyder, of the American Veterinary 
College, kindly contributes his method of operation 
as follows : 

Instruments. — Straight 
or convex bistoury, spread- 
er forceps, extracting for- 
ceps, two cotton cords 
(three feet long and a 
quarter of an inch in dia- 
meter) arranged with a 
running loop at one end 
and a pound or pound and 
a half weight attached to 
the other, depending on 
the size of the cockerel. 
The operating table should 
be the usual height and 
about 18 inches wide; or 
a barrel upside down ans- 
wers the same purpose. 

Age to operate in order to obtain the best results— 
viz., reduced mortality, increased size, a greater 
development of hackles around the neck and an arrest 
of comb development— as soon as the sex can be dis- 
tinguished. 

Before operating, diet the chicks; alight diet for 




CAPONIZING INSTRUMENTS. 



164 ANIMAL CASTRATION. 

the first twelve and nothing during the last twelve 
hours — twenty-four hours all told. 

After Treatment — Soft and easily digested food for 
three or four days. 

Operation. — Place the chick on the operating 
table, laying him upon his right side ; pass the run- 
ning loop of one cord around both legs and allow the 
weight to hang down over the side of the table ; pass 
the running loop of the second cord around both 
wings close to the body, allowing the weight to hang 
over the opposite side of the table. The chick is 
now held motionless and the operating region ex- 
posed. 

With the left hand push forward the long feathers 
of the breast, and with the right hand pluck the few 
feathers covering the last two ribs. 

Still holding the feathers with the left hand, make 
an incision between the last two ribs, from the verte- 
bra downwards toward the sternal cartilage ; make 
this incision about one and one-half inches long, and, 
if necessary, cut through the sternal cartilage. 

Introduce the spreading forceps between the ribs, 
and spread them apart sufficiently to allow the in- 
troduction of the extracting forceps. 

Carefully cut through the peritoneum, and the 
testicles are exposed one on each side of the vertebra 
just anterior to the kidneys. 

Introduce the extracting forceps and grasp the 
lower testicle and remove it, cutting the cord as high 
as possible, after which remove the upper testicle in 
the same way (I select the lower testicle first, for if 



ANIMAL CASTRATION. 165 

you operate on the upper first the hemorrhage will 
hide the lower one.) 

Remove spreaders, the ribs contract together, 
which closes the wound, no sutures required. 

The only complication I have met is hemorrhage 
which usually is of no consequence. 

Mortality about one per cent. 

A good operator can do from 25 to 35 an hour. 

The great difficulty in caponizing, even with those 
who are proficient in the operation, is the develop- 
ment of "slips," which is caused by crushing the 
testicle and not removing it clean, allowing the cord, 
a part of the testicular envelopes and in some cases 
a small amount of the glandular tissue to remain; 
this constitutes a " slip." 

A "slip" will grow a comb as large as an ordinary 
bird, will not develope the characteristic hackles 
around the neck and will copulate as readily and 
frequently as any other, and frequently are capable 
of reproduction, and their flesh does not have the 
characteristic flavor of the capon. 

To obviate this I have had my extracting forceps 
made with a scissors-edge in front as marked in the 
above cut; these divide the cord cleanly and do not 
tear or rupture the envelopes as the other forceps 
will ; there is no more danger of a fatal hemorrhage 
and the proportion of " slips " is reduced to a mini- 
mum. 



WILLIAM R. JENKINS' 

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1902 



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2. The only obstetrical work which is up to date. 

3. Written by Europe's leading authority on the subject. 

4. Written by a man who has practiced the art a lifetime. 

5. Written by a man who, on account of his eminence as 
bovine practitioner and teacher of obstetrics, was selected 
by Prof. Dr. Frohner and Prof. Dr. Bayer (Berlin and 
Vienna), to discuss bovine obstetrics, both practically and 
scientifically. 

6. The only work containing a thorough differential diag- 
nosis of ante and post partum diseases. 

7. The only work doing justice to modern obstetrical 
surgery and therapeutics. 

8. Written by a man whose practical suggestions revolu- 
tionized the teaching of veterinary obstetrics even in the 
great schools of Em-ope. 

9. The only work dealing fully with the now no longer 
obscure contagious and infectious diseases of calves. 

10. Absolutely original and no compilation. 

11. The only work dealing fully with the difficult problem 
of teaching obstetrics in the colleges. 

12. The only work where the practical part is not over- 
shadowed by theory. 

... A veterinarian, particularly if his location brings him in 
contact with obstetrical practice, who makes any pretence toward 
being scientific and in possession of modern knowledge upon this 
subject, will not be without this excellent work, as it is really a very 
valuable treatise. It contains nearly 400 pages, numerous illustrations', 
and is put together in Jenkins" best style. — Prof. Boscoe B. Bell, in the 
American Veterinary Review, Dec, 1901. 

In translating into English Professor De Bruin's excellent text- 
book on Bovine Obstetrics, Dr. Wyman has laid British and American 
veterinary surgeons and students under a debt of gratitude. The 
work represents the happy medium between the booklets which are 
adapted for cramming purposes by the student, and the ponderous 
tomes which, although useful to the teacher, are not exactly suited 
to the requirements of the everyday practitioner ... It contains 
seventy-seven excellent illustrations . . . Both translator and pu- 
blisher have done their work in a way that deserves praise, and Ave 
can strongly recommend the work to veterinary students and practi- 
tioners.— The Journal of Comparative Pathology and Therapeutics, 
December, 1901. 



See also " Wyman, 



851-853 Sixth Avenue (cor. 48£7i St.), New York. 



(*) DOLLAR. "A Surgical Operating Table for the 

Horse." By Jno. A. W. Dollar, M.R.C.V.S 90 

(*)_ "Clinical Veterinary Medicine and Surgery," By P. J. 

Cadiot. Translated, edited, and supplemented with 

49 new articles and 34 illustrations by Jno. A. W. 

Dollar, M.R.C.V.S. Royal 8vo, 619 pages, 94 black 

and white illustrations 5 25 

. . . This work, containing as it does the ripe exper- 
ience of the author, who may be considered one of the 
foremost surgeons and clinicians of the day, contains a 
vast amount of exact scientific information of the utmost 
value to the busy workaday practitioner, while for the 
student of either human or comparative medicine, no 
better book could be placed in their hands, that will give 
them a clear insight into the many intricate problems 
with which they are daily confronted. . . .—American 
Veterinary Review, New York, August, 1901. 

(*)- "A Hand-book of Horse-Shoeing," with introductory 
chapters on the anatomy and physiology of the 
horse's foot. By Jno. A. W. Dollar, M.R.C.V.S., 
translator and editor of Moller's " Veterinary Sur- 
gery," "An Atlas of Veterinary Surgical Operations," 
etc. ; with the collaboration of Albert Wheatley, 
F.R.C.V.S. 8vo, cloth, 433 pp., 406 illustrations . .4.75 



DUN. " Veterinary Medicines." By Finlay Dun, V.S. New 
revised and enlarged English edition. 8vo, cloth. 3 75 



DWYER. '* Seats and Saddles." Bits and Bitting, 
Draught and Harness and the Prevention and Cure of 
Restiveness in Horses. By Francis Dwyer. Illus- 
trated. 1 vol., 12mo, cloth, gilt 1 50 

FLEMING. "Veterinary Obstetrics." Including the 
Accidents and Diseases incident to Pregnancy, Parturi- 
tion, and the early Age in Domesticated Animals. 
By Geo. Fleming, F.R.C.V.S. With 212 illustrations. 
New edition revised, 226 illustrations, 758 pages. ..6 25 
773 pages, 8vo, cloth (old edition) 3 50 



Veterinary Catalogue of William R. Jenkins 



FLEMING. "Operative Veterinary Surgery" Part I, by 
Dr. Geo. Fleming, M.R.C.V.S. This valuable work, 
the most practical treatise yet issued on the 
subject in the English language, is devoted to the 
common operations of Veterinary Surgery; and the 
concise descriptions and directions of the text are illus- 
trated with numerous wood engravings. 8vo,cloth.2 75 
{Second volume in preparation, to be ready March, 1902). 

— "Tuberculosis." From a Sanitary and Pathological Point 

of View. By Geo. Fleming, F.R.C.V.S 25 

— " The Contagious Diseases of Animals." Their influence on 

the wealth and health of nations. 12mo, paper 25 

— " Human and Animal Variola?." A Study in Comparative 

Pathology. Paper 25 

— "Animal Plagues." Their History, Nature, and 

Prevention. By George Fleming, F. E. C. V. S., etc. 
First Series. 8vo, cloth, $6.00; Second Series. 
8vo, cloth 3 00 

— " Roaring in Horses." By Dr. George Fleming, 

F.R.C.V.S. A treatise on this peculiar disorder 
of the Horse, indicating its method of treatment 
and curability. 8vo, cloth, with col. plates 1 50 



FLEMING-NEUMANN. "Parasites and Parasitic 
Diseases of the Domesticated Animals." A work 
which the students of human or veterinary medi- 
cine, the sanitarian, agriculturist or breeder or rearer 
of animals, may refer for full information regarding 
the external and internal Parasites — vegetable and 
animal — which attack various species of Domestic 
Animals. A Treatise by L. G. Neumann, Professor 
at the National Veterinary School of Toulouse. 
Translated and edited by George Fleming, C. B., L.L. 
D.,F.B.C.V.S. 873 pages, 365 illustrations, cloth.7 50 



851-853 Sixth Avenue (cor. ±8th St.), New York. 



GRESSWELL. "The Diseases and Disorders of the 
Ox." By George Gresswell, B.A. With Notes by 
James B. Gresswell. Crown, 8vo, cloth, illus — 3 50 

— " Diseases and Disorders of the Horse." By Albert, James 

B. and George Gresswell. Crown, 8vo, illus.,clotb.l 75 

— "Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics." By 

James B. Gresswell, F.E.C.V.S. 16mo, cloth . . .1 5u 

— " The Bovine Prescriber." For the use of Veterina- 

rians and Veterinary Students. By James B. and 
Albert Gresswell, M.E.C. V.S Cloth .75 

— "The Equine Hospital Prescriber." For the use of Veter- 

inary Practitioners and Students. By Drs. James 
B. and Albert Gresswell, M.E.C. V.S. Cloth 75 

— "Veterinary Pharmacopeia, Materia Medica and 

Therapeutics." By George and Charles Gresswell, 
with descriptions and physiological actions of medi- 
cines. By Albert Gresswell. Crown, 8vo, cloth. .2 75 

— Manual of "The Theory and Practice of Equine Medicine." 

By James B. Gresswell, F.E.C.V.S., and Albert 
Gresswell, M.E.C.V.S., second edition, enlarged, 
8vo, cloth. , 2 75 

GOTTHEIL. "A Manual of General Histology." 

By Wm, S. Gottheil, M.D., Professor of Pathology in 
the American Veterinary College, New York; etc., etc. 
Histology is the basis of the physician's art, as 
Anatomy is the foundation of the surgeon's science. 
Only by knowing the processes of life can we under- 
stand the changes of disease and the action of remedies ; 
as the architect must know his building materials, so 
must the practitioner of medicine know the intimate 
structure of the body. To present this knowledge in 
an accessible and simple form has been the author's 
task. 8to. s cloth, 148 pages, fully illustrated. . . 1 00 



10 Veterinary Catalogue of William R. Jenkins 



HASSL O CII. ' ' A Conipend of Veterinary Materia Medica 
and Therapeutics." By Dr. A. C. Hassloch, V.S., 
Lecturer on Materia Medica and Therapeutics, and 
Professor of Veterinary Dentistry at the New York 
College of Veterinary Surgeons and School of Compa- 
rative Medicine, N. Y. 12mo, cloth, 225 pages . . 1 50 



HEATLEY. " The Stock Owner's Guide." A handy Medi- 
cal Treatise for every man who owns an ox or cow. 
By George S. Heatley, M.K.C.V. 12mo, cloth. . .1 25 

— "The Horse Owner's Safeguard." A handy Medical 

Guide for every Horse Owner. 12mo, cloth 1 50 

— " Practical Veterinary Remedies." 12mo, cloth 1 00 



HILL, "The Management and Diseases of the Dog." 

Containing full instructions for Breeding, Bearing and 
Kenneling Dogs. Their Different Diseases. How to 
detect and how to cure them. Their Medicines, and 
the doses in which they can be safely administered. 
By J. Woodroffe Hill, F.R.C.V.S. 12mo, cloth, extra 
fully illustrated 2 00 

(*)- "The Diseases of the Cat." By J. Woodroffe Hill, F.R. 

C.V.S. 12mo, cloth, illustrated 1 25 

Written from the experience of many years' prac- 
tice and close pathological research into the maladies 
to which our domesticated feline friends are liable— a 
subject which it must be admitted has not found not 
prominence in veterinary literature to which it is 
undoubtedly entitled. 

HINEBAUCH. "Veterinary Dental Surgery." For the 

use of Students, Practitioners and Stockmen. 

12mo, cloth, illustrated 2 00 

Sheep 2 75 



851-853 Sixth Avenue (cor. 4Sth St.), New York. 11 



HO ABE. "A Manual of Veterinary Therapeutics and 
Pharmacology." By E. Wallis Hoare, F.R.C.V>\ 
12mo, cloth, 560 pages 2 75 

"Deserves a good place in the libraries of all veterina- 
rians. * * * Cannot help but be of the greatest assist- 
ance to the young veterinarian and the every day busy 
practitioner."— American Veterinary Beview. 



(*)HOBDA Y. " Canine and Feline Surgery." By Frederick 
T. G. Hobday, F.E.C.V.S., Professor in Charge of the 
Free Out-Patients' Clinique at the Royal Veterinary 
College, London, The work contains 76 illustrations 
in the text. Demy 8vo, 152 pp., full-bound cloth .2 00 



(**) HUNTING. The Art of Horse -shoeing. A manual 
for Farriers. By William Hunting, F.R.C.V.S., edi- 
tor of the Veterinary Record, ex-president of the Royal 
College of Veterinary Surgeons. 8vo, cloth, with 
nearly 100 illustrations 1 CO 



{*)JENKINS. " Model of the Horse." 10 CO 

(See Banham). 



(**)KOBEBT. "Practical Toxicology for Physicians and 
Students." By Professor Dr. Rudolph Kobert, 
Medical Director of Dr. Brehmer's Sanitarium for 
Pulmonary Diseases at Goerbersdorf in Silesia (Prus- 
sia), late Director of the Pharmacological Institute., 
Dorpat, Russia. Translated and edited by L. H. 
Friedburg, Ph.D. Authorized Edition. 8vo, cloth .2 50 



KOCH. "Etiology of Tuberculosis." By Dr. R. Koch. 
Translated by T. Saure. 8vo, cloth 1 00 



12 Veterinary Catalogue of William R. Jenkins 



KEATING, "A New Unabridged Pronouncing Diction- 
ary of Medicine." By John M. Keating, M.D., LL.D., 

Henry Hamilton and others. A voluminous and 
exhaustive hand-book of Medical and scientific 
terminology with Phonetic Pronunciation, Accentu- 
ation, Etymology, etc. With an appendix containing 
important tables of Bacilli, Microcci Leucomaines, 
Ptomaines ; Drugs and Materials used in Antiseptic 
Surgery ; Poisons and their antidotes ; Weights and 
Measures; Themometer Scales; New Officinal and 
Unofficinal Drugs, etc., etc. 8vo, 818 pages 5 00 

LAMBERT. "The Germ Theory of Disease." 

Bearing upon the health and welfare of man and the 
domesticated animals. By James Lambert, F.E.C.V.S. 
8vo. paper 25 



LAW. "Farmers' Veterinary Adviser." A Guide to the 
Prevention and Treatment of Disease in Domestic 
Animals. By Prof. James Law. Ulus., 8vo, cloth. S 00 



DLEGGE. "Cattle Tuberculosis." A Practical Guide 
to the Farmer, Butcher and Meat Inspector. By T.M. 
Legge, M.A„ M.D., D.P.H., Secretary of the Boyal 
Commission on Tuberculosis, 1896-98; author of 
" Public Health in European Capitals," and " Harold 
Sessions, F.R.C.V.S." Cloth 1 00 



LIA UTARD. " Manual of Operative Veterinary Surgery " 

By A. Liautard, M. D., V.M., Principal and Professor 
of Anatomy, Surgery, Sanitary Medicine and Juris- 
prudence in the American Veterinary College; 
Chevalier du Merite Agricole de France, Honorary 
Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons 
(London), etc., etc. 8vo, cloth, 786 pages and nearly 
600 illustrations 6 00 



851-853 Sixth Avenue (cor. 48th St.), New York. 13 



LIAUTABD. "Median Neurotomy in the Treatment of 
Chronic Tendinitis and Periostosis of the Fetlock." 

By C. Pellerin, late Kepetitor of Clinic and Surgery to 
the Alfort Veterinary School. Translated with addi- 
tional facts relating to it, by Prof. A. Liautard, M.D., 
V.M. 

Having rendered good results when ^performed by 
himself, the author believes the operation, which 
consists in dividing the cubito-plantar nerve and in 
excising a portion of the peripherical end, the means 
of improving the conditions, and consequently the 
values of many apparently doomed animals. Agricul- 
ture in particular will be benefited. 

The work is divided into two parts. The first covers 
the study of Median Neurotomy itself ; the second, 
the exact relations of the facts as observed by the 
author. 8vo., boards. 1 00 

(*)_ "Animal Castration." A concise and practical Treatise 
on the Castration of the Domestic Animals. The 
only work on the subject in the English language. 
Illustrated with 52 cuts. A new revised and enlarged 
edition, 1902. 12mo, cloth 2 00 

— "Vade Mecum of Equine Anatomy." By A. Liautard, 

M.D.V.S. Dean of the American Veterinary College. 
12mo. cloth. New edition, with illustrations . . .2 00 

— " Translation of Zundel on the Horse's Foot." Cloth . . 2 00 

— " How to Tell the Age of the Domestic Animal." Bj 

Dr. A. Liautard, M.D., V.S. Profusely illustrated. 
12mo, cloth 50 

— "On the Lameness of Horses." By A. Liautard, 

M.D.,V.S 2 50 

See also "Cadiotfs Surgery " 

(*)— "A Treatise on Veterinary Therapeutics of the Domestic 
Animals," (See Cadiot.) 



14 Veterinary Catalogue of William R. Jenkins 



LONG, "Book of the Pig." Its selection, Breeding, 
Feeding and Management. 8vo, cloth 4 25 

{**)LOWE. " Breeding Racehorses by the Figure 
System." Compiled by the late C. Bruce Lowe. 
Edited by William Allison, " The Special Commis- 
sioner," London Sportsman, Hon. Secretary Sporting 
League, and Manager of the International Horse 
Agency and Exchange. With numerous fine illustra- 
tions of celebrated horses. Quarto, cloth 7 50 



LUDLOW. " Science in the Stable "5 or How a Horse can 
be Kept in Perfect Health and be Used Without 
Shoes, in Harness or under the Saddle. With the 
Reason Why, Second American Edition. Enlarged 
and Exemplified. By Jacob E. Ludlow, M.D. Late 
Staff Surgeon, U. S. Army. Paper, 166 pages 50 

LUPTON. "Horses: Sound and Unsound," with 
Law relating to Sales and Warranty. By J. Irvine 
Lupton, F.R.C.V.S. 8vo, cloth, illustrated 1 25 

— " The Horse." As he Was, as he Is, and as he Ought to Be. 
By J. I. Lupton, F.R.C.V.S. Illus., Crown, 8vo. .1 40 

MAGNER. " Facts for Horse Owners." By D. Magner. 
Upwards of 1,000 pages, illustrated with 900 engrav- 
ings. 8vo, leather binding ... 7 50 

MAYSEW. "The Illustrated Horse Doctor." An 

accurate and detailed account of the Various Diseases 
to which the Equine Race is subject ; together with the 
latest mode of Treatment, and all the Requisite Pre- 
scriptions written in plain English. By E. Edward 
Mayhew, M.R.C.V.S. Illustrated. Entirely new 
edition, 8vo, cloth — 2 75 



851-853 Sixth Avenue (cor. 48th St.), New York. 15 



McBBIDE. "Anatomical Outlines of the Horse." 

12mo, cloth. Reduced to 1 50 



McCOMBIE. "Cattle and Cattle Breeders." Cloth l 00 

M'FADYEAN. "Anatomy of the Horse." A Dis- 
section Guide. By J. M. M'Fadyean, M.R.C.V.S. 
8vo, cloth 5 50 

This book is intended for Veterinary students, and 
offers to them in its 48 full-page colored plates numer- 
ous other engravings and excellent text, the most 
valuable and practical aid in the study of Veterinary 
Anatomy, especially in the dissecting room. 

— " Comparative Anatomy of the Domesticated Animals." 

By J. M'Fadyean. Profusely illustrated, and to be 
issued in two parts. 

Part I— Osteology, ready. Paper, 2.50; cloth. . . .2.75 
(Part II in preparation.) 



MILLS. "How to Keep a Dog in the City." By 

Wesley Mills, M.D., V.S. It tells how to choose, 
manage, house, feed, educate the pup, how to keep him 
clean and teach him cleanliness. Paper 25 



MOSSELMAN-L1ENA TJX. " Veterinary Microbio- 

logy." By Professors Mosselman and Lienaux, 
Nat. Veterinary College, Cureghem, Belgium. Trans- 
lated and edited by R. R. Dinwiddie, Professor of 
Veterinary Science, College of Agriculture, Arkansas 
State University. 12mo, cloth, 342 pages 2 00 



MOBETON. " On Horse-breaking." 12mo, cl , . . 50 



16 Veterinary Catalogue of William R. Jenkins 



MOLLER. "Operative Veterinary Surgery." By Tro fea- 
sor Dr. H. Moller, Berlin. Translated and edited 
from the 2nd edition, enlarged and improved, by 
John A. W. Dollar, M.K.C.S. 

Prof. Moller's work presents the most recent and 
complete exposition of the Principles and Practice of 
Veterinary Surgery, and is the standard text-book on the 
subject throughout Germany. 

Many subjects ignored in previous treatises on 
Veterinary Surgery here receive full consideration, 
while the better known are presented under new and 
suggestive aspects. 

As Prof. Moller's work represents not only his 
own opinions and practice, but those of the best 
Veterinary Surgeons of various countries, the trans- 
lation cannot fail to be of signal service to American 
and British Veterinarians and to Students of Veter- 
inary and Comparative Surgery. 
1 vol., 8vo. 722 pages, 142 illustrations 5 25 



NOCARD. " The Animal Tuberculoses, and their Relation 
to Human Tuberculosis." By Ed. Nocard, Prof, of the 
Alfort Veterinary College. Translated by H. Scurfield, 

M.D. Ed., Ph. Camb. 12mo, cloth, 143 pages 1 00 

Perhaps the chief interest to doctors of human 
medicine in Professor Nocard's book lies in the 
demonstration of the small part played by heredity, 
and the great part played by contagion in the propa- 
gation of bovine tuberculosis. It seems not unreason- 
able to suppose that the same is the case for human 
tuberculosis, and that, if the children of tuberculosis 
parents were protected from infection by cohabitation 
or ingestion, the importance of heredity as a cause of 
the disease, or even of the predisposition to it, would 
dwindle away into insignificance. 

PEGLER. "The Book of the Goat." 12mo, cloth, 1 75 



851-853 Sixth Avenue (cor. i8th St.), New York. 1? 



PELLERIN. "Median Neurotomy in the Treatment 
of Chronic Tendinitis and Periostosis'of the Fetlock." 

By C. Pellerin, late repetitor of Clinic and Surgery to 
the Alfort Veterinary School. Translated, with Addi- 
tional Facts Kelating to It, by Prof. A. Liautard, M.D., 

V.M. 8vo, boards, illustrated 1 00 

See also " Liautard." 



PETERS. " A Tuberculous Herd— Test Tfith Tuber- 
culin." By Austin Peters, M. E. C. V. S., Chief 
Inspector of Cattle for the New York State Board of 
Health during the winter of 1892-93. Pamphlet. ... 25 



(*) PFEIFFER - WILLIAMS. " A Course of Surgical 
Operations for Veterinary Students and Practi- 
tioners." By W. Pfeiffer, Assistant in the Surgical 
Clinic of the Veterinary High School in Berlin, and 
W. L. Williams, V.S., Professor of Surgery in the 
New York State Veterinary College, Cornell Univer- 
sity, Ithaca, N. Y. 
With 42 illustrations, 12mo, cloth 1 25 

A concise description of the more common major 
surgical operations, designed as a laboratory guide in 
surgical exercises for veterinary students and as a 
ready reference for practitioners in surgical opera- 
tions. Based upon a translation of Dr. Pfeiffer's 
" Operations-Cursus," embodying the experience of 
Dr. Pfeiffer and Prof. Dr. Frohner in the Berlin 
Veterinary School. With numerous annotations there 
have been added many of the newer, largely distinc- 
tively American, operations. 



REYNOLD. "Breeding and Management of Draught 
Horses," 8vo, cloth .,-. , 140 



18 Veterinary Catalogue of William R. Jenkins 



JROBEBGE. " The Foot of the Horse," or Lameness 
and all Diseases of the Feet traced to an Unbalanced 
Foot Bone, prevented or cured by balancing the foot. 
By David Roberge. 8vo, cloth 5 00 



(**)SEWELL. « The Examination of Horses as to Sound- 
ness and Selection as to Purchase." By Edward 
Sewell, M.R.C.V.S.L. 8vo, paper 1 50 

It is a great advantage to the business man to 

know something of the elements of law, and nobody 
ought either to buy or own a horse who does not know 
something about the animal. That something this book 

gives, and gives in a thoroughly excellent way 

Our Animal Friends, November, 1898. 



SMITH. "A Manual of Veterinary Physiology." By 

Veterinary Captain F. Smith, M.R.C.V.S. Author of 
"A Manual of Veterinary Hygiene." 

Throughout this manual the object has been to con- 
dense the information as much as possible. The 
broad facts of the sciences are stated so as to render 
them of use to the student and practitioner. In this 
second edition— rewritten— the whole of the Nervous 
System has been revised, a new chapter dealing with 
the Development of the Ovum has been added together 
with many additional facts and illustrations. About 
one hundred additional pages are given. Second 
edition, revised and enlarged, with additional illus- 
trations. i 3 75 

— "Manual of Veterinary Hygiene." 2nd edition, revised. 
Crown, 8vo, cloth 3 25 



(**) STRANGE WAY. "Veterinary Anatomy." Edited by 
I. Vaughan, F.L.S., M.R.C.V.S. New edition revised, 
with several hundred illustrations. 8vo s cloth 5 00 



851-853 Sixth Avenue (cor. 4Sth St.), New York. 19 



*)SUSSDORF. " Large Colored Wall Diagrams." By 

Prof. Sussdorf, M.D. (of Gottingen). Text translated 
by Prof. W. Owen Williams, of the New Veterinary 
College, Edinburgh. Size, 44 inches by 30 inches. 

1.— Horse. 4.— Ox. 

2.— Mare. 5.— Boar and Sow. 

3.— Cow. 6.— Dog and Bitch. 

Showing the position of the viscera in the large 
cavities of the body. 

Price, unmounted 1 75 each 

" mounted on linen, with roller. . . 3 50 " 



(**)V AN MATER. " A Text Book of Veterinary Oph- 
thalmology." By George G. Van Mater, M.D., 
D.V.S., Professor of Ophthalmology in the American 
Veterinary College ; Oculist and Aurist to St. Martha's 
Sanitarium and Dispensary; Consulting Eye and Ear 
Surgeon to the Twenty-sixth Ward Dispensary ; Eye 
and Ear Surgeon, Brooklyn Eastern District Dispen- 
sary, etc. Illustrated by one chromo lithograph plate 
and seventy-one engravings. 
8vo cloth 3 00 



VETERINARY DIAGRAMS in Tabular Form. 
Size, 28£ in. x 22 inches. Price per set of five 4 75 

No. 1. "The External Form and Elementary Ana- 
tomy of the Horse." Eight colored illustratioDs — 
1. External regions ; 2. Skeleton ; 3. Muscles (Superior 
Layer) ; 4. Muscles (Deep Layer) ; 5. Eespiratory Ap- 
paratus ; 6. Digestive Apparatus ; 7. Circulatory Ap- 
paratus ; 8. Nerve Apparatus ; with letter-press descrip- 
tion 1 25 



20 Veterinary Catalogue of William R. Jenkins 



VETERINARY DIAGRAMS.— Continued. 

No. 2. "The Age of Domestic Animals." Forty-two 
figures illustrating the structure of the teeth, indicat- 
ing the Age of the Horse, Ox, Sheep, and Dog, with 
full description 75 



No. 3. "The Unsoundness and Defects of the Horse." 

Fifty figures illustrating— 1. The Defects of Confor- 
mation; 2. Defects of Position ; 3. Infirmities or Signs 
of Disease ; 4. Unsoundnesses ; 5. Defects of the Foot ; 
with full description 75 



No. 4. "The Shoeing of the Horse, Mule and Ox." 

Fifty figures descriptive of the Anatomy and Physio- 
logy of the Foot and of Horse-shoeing 75 



No. 5. "The Elementary Anatomy, Points, and But- 
cher's Joints of the Ox." Ten colored illustrations 
— 1. Skeleton; 2. Nervous System; 3. Digestive 
System (Eight Side) ; 4. Eespiratory System ; 5. Points 
of a Fat Ox ; 6. Muscular System ; 7. Vascular System ; 
8. Digestive System (Left Side) ; 9. Butcher's Sections 
of a Calf; 10. Butcher's Sections of an Ox ; with full 
description . . 1 25 



WALLEY. "Four Bovine Scourges." (Pleuro-Pneumonia, 
Foot and Mouth Disease, Cattle Plague and 
Tubercle.) With an Appendix on the Inspection 
of Live Animals and Meat. 
Illustrated, 4to, cloth 6 40 



851-853 Sixth Avenue {cor. 4Sth St.), New York 21 



WALLET. "A Practical Guide to Meat Inspection." By 

Thomas Walley, M.R.C.V.S., formerly principal of 
the Edinburgh Royal (Dick) Veterinary College ; Pro- 
fessor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery, etc. 
Fourth Edition, 1902, thoroughly revised and enlarged 
by Stewart Stockman, M.R.O.V.S., Professor of 
Pathology, Lecturer on Hygiene and Meat Inspection 
at Dick Veteiinary College, Edinburgh. 
12mo, cloth, with 45 colored illus., 295 pages 3 00 ' 

An experience of over 30 years in his profession 
and a long official connection (some sixteen years) 
with Edinburgh Abattoirs have enabled the author to 
gather a large store of information on the subject, 
which he has embodied in his book. Dr. Walley's opi- 
nions are regarded as the highest authority on Meat 
Inspection. 



WILLIAMS. "Principles and Practice of Veterinary 
Medicine." New author's edition, entirely revised 
and illustrated with numerous plain and colored 
plates. By W. Williams, M.R.C.V.S. 
8vo., eloth 6 00 



— "Principles and Practice of Veterinary Surgery." New 

author's edition, entirely revised and illustrated 
with numerous plain and colored plates. By W. 
Williams, M.R.C.V.S. 
8vo, eloth 6 00 



(*) WILLIAMS - PFEIFFER. " A Course of Surgical 
Operations for Veterinary Students and Practi- 
tioners." By W. Pfeiffer and W. L. Williams, V.S. 
With 42 illustrations, 12mo, cloth 1 25 

See also "IJeiffer- Williams" 



22 Veterinary Catalogue of William R. Jenkins 

THE MOST COMPLETE, PROGRESSIVE AND 
SCIENTIFIC BOOK ON THE SUBJECT IN 
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 

(*) WINSL O W. "Veterinary Materia Medica and Therapeu- 
tics." By Kenelm Winslow, B.A.S., M.D.V., M.D.,. 

(Harv.); Assistant Professor of Therapeutics in the 
Veterinary School of Harvard University ; Fellow of 
the Massachusetts Medical Society ; Surgeon to the 
Newton Hospital, etc. 

Second Edition Revised, 1902. 

8vo, cloth, 750 pages 6 00 



Your letter received and I am pleased to know that we 
are to have an American Materia Medica.— J". H. Wattles, 
Sr., M.D., D.V.S., The Western Veterinary College, Kansas 
City, Mo. March 19th, 1901. 

. . . Am delighted with it. It is remarkably correct, 
complete and up to date and is bound to supersede any 
other work on the same subject heretofore before the pro- 
fession. 

No practitioner's library is complete without it and it 
will be indispensable for students, as it does away with the 
necessity of their having a number of collateral books on the 
subject. 

It will be adopted as the text book in the Chicago Veter- 
inary College.— Dr. E. L. Quitman, Chicago Veterinary 
College. June 25th, 1901. 

. . . The book is of admirable merit and full of valuable 
information from beginning to end, very explicit, rich and 
interesting, and should be in the hands of every student as 
well as practitioner of the art of Veterinary Medicine. — 
Thurston Miller, M.D., Professor of Materia Medica, Thera- 
peutics and Chemistry, San Francisco Veterinary College. 
July 8th, 1901. 

... I have found the book very satisfactory as a 
reference book to be used in connection with lectures. . . 
—Dr. W. A. Lanclacre, College of Pharmacy, Ohio State 
University. August 6th, 1901. 



851=853 Sixth Avenue (cor. mh St.), New York 23 



I consider it the only work on materia medica and thera- 
peutics suitable to the American veterinary practitioner. 
It deserves a wide distribution among veterinarians. I have 
recommended it to my students.— John J. Repp, V.M.D., Iowa 
State College, Ames, Iowa, Oct. 29th, 1901. 

This latest work on veterinary materia medica is a hand- 
somely bound and printed book . . . and we can recom- 
mend it as an advantageous addition to any veterinary 
library, but much more a book for the practitioner of 
experience.— The Veterinary Journal, October, 1901 . 

The field of veterinary materia medica has never been 
filled to the extent that the importance of the subject 
demanded, and, while all other branches of veterinary 
science have had numerous contributions from American 
authors, that of medicine and therapeutics has never 
received the compliment of a presumptuous text-book, 
veterinary posology being about the extent of the efforts 
put forth. The excellent work by Finlay Dun has been 
our only guide, and it would be a rather reckless assertion 
to claim that this treatise was well adapted to the needs of 
the present generation of American veterinarians. In Eng- 
land, it may be a satisfying compendium of therapeutics, 
but in the live, bustling up-to-date profession of the 
Western Hemisphere, it is many years to the rear, and 
the time is well at hand when we should have text-books 
adapted to American methods and conditions ... It 
is destined to supersede Dun's "Veterinary Medicines" 
in all English-speaking schools. . . Already the text-book 
of Dr. Winslow has been adopted in many of the colleges 
of this country, and it is safe to predict that it will receive 
the endorsement of practitioners wherever it is introduced. 
—American Veterinary Review, November, 1901. 



21 Veterinary Catalogue of William R. Jenkins. 



C*)WYMAN. "The Clinical Diagnosis of Lameness 
in the Horse." By W. E. A. Wyman, V.S., Prof, of 
Veterinary Science, Clemson A. & M. College, and 
Veterinarian to the South Carolina Experiment Sta- 
tion. 8vo, cloth, illustrated , 2 50 

(*) —"Bovine Obstetrics." By M. G. De Bruin, Instructor 
of Obstetrics at the State Veterinary School in 
Utrecht. Translated by W. E. A. Wyman, M.D.V., 
V.S., Professor of Veterinary Science, Clemson 
A. & M. College, and Veterinarian to the South 
Carolina Experiment Station. 

8vo, cloth, 382 pages, 77 illustrations 5 00 

See also " De Bruin." 

— " Tibio- peroneal Neurectomy for the Kelief of Spavin 
Lameness. By W. E. A. Wyman, M.D.V., V.S. 
(In preparation.) 

ZUNDEL. "The Horse's Foot and Its Diseases." By 

A. Zundel, Principal Veterinarian of Alsace Lorraine. 
Translated by Dr. A. Liautard, V.S. 12mo, cloth 
illustrated 2 00 

ZUILL. "Typhoid Fever; or Contagious Influenza 
in the Horse." By Prof. W. L. Zuill, M.D.,D.V.S. 
Pamphlet , 25 



Our Boohs are for sale by all booksellers, 
or will be sent prepaid for the prices here quoted, 

WILLIAH R. JENKINS, 

851 and 853 Sixth Avenue, NEW YORK, 



^Y 28 190? 



